Arkansas recently certified 86 chaplains to be stationed in police departments across the state. Chris Clem is director of research and planning with the Arkansas Department of Public Safety with the Arkansas State Police, which led the chaplaincy program. He tells Ozarks at Large’s Daniel Caruth that this initiative is part of a larger effort to improve the mental and spiritual health of law-enforcement. He says throughout their career, the average police officer experiences 600 to 1,000 major traumatic incidents.
Chris Clem: People, human beings, are just not built to withstand that over time. And so the cumulative trauma of a lifetime as a first responder, law-enforcement officer is very, very difficult. And so we recognise that. Secretary Hager and Director Chapman, our leadership team at Department of Public Safety in Arkansas State Police recognized that we needed to really get help, to create a force that could come alongside the law-enforcement officers and their families to kind of help them, not just survive a career in law enforcement, but thrive. And we knew that was going to take intentionality. So we began to look at resources. And one of those resources is chaplains. And so we recently, as you said, we’ve gone through and certified now 86 chaplains with a 40-hour class that helps them with things like death notification, recognising burnout. Of course, they come along to provide a spiritual component if the officer wants that. They assist with death notifications. So they’re really someone that gets embedded in their local law-enforcement agency and then acts as a resource to help that officer and their family and also the community as we go through some of these challenging situations that we encounter in law enforcement.
Daniel Caruth: Yeah. And so the people who've gone through this, the chaplains, were they people who were police officers before? Were they part of law enforcement, what does that certification process look like? Who are these chaplains?
Clem: Well, it was men and women from across the state. We did have some that were pre-existing or are currently law-enforcement officers. There was a handful of those, both troopers and then deputies and officers from different departments. But the majority of the folks that attended were clergy in different denominations across the state. So this was cross-denominational. And they were, you know, pastors or maybe a deacon in their church, some of them, you know, Sunday-school teachers, etc. That we looked at their credentials and then we ran background checks on them and then those that passed all that in the interview process that we had, we allowed them to come to the class.
Caruth: Speaking of, you know, that cross-denominational element, you know, are these people from multiple different faiths, are there still gaps that you guys are maybe looking at that you would like to fill? I'm just curious about that?
Clem: Sure. We did. We offered it as a cross-denominational cross… you know, from different spiritual backgrounds, Jewish, etc. We offered that across the board to anybody that wanted to attend. We did have a couple that were outside of the Christian faith, but the vast majority, I’d say 98, 99 percent were from a Christian background.
Caruth: And I know that this is all sort of part of a larger effort to, you know, help increase public safety, you know, both for the public and for law enforcement officers. Can you talk to me just a little bit about that effort and about the POLAR program?
Clem: Sure. Well, POLAR stands for performance optimisation, leadership and resilience. And we recognised that burnout is a big deal. Matter of fact, my doctoral research is on burnout and law enforcement, clergy and physicians in Arkansas and Texas. And so we recognised as an agency that burnout is very real. And trauma is part of the challenge in law enforcement, specifically where we face that. And so the goal with the POLAR team was to come alongside and really help bridge that gap, provide resources to officers, help them become more resilient, help them learn to deal with some of the trauma, and then also develop them in their leadership capacity.
Caruth: How are we doing retention wise with state police and with law enforcement? Is it something that you guys have been seeing there's a drop off, or is it something that stays kind of steady? I don't know what we look like here in Arkansas.
Clem: Well, that’s a great question. We’re actually getting ready to do a research study, in 2026 with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. And that’s one of the things that we’re looking at. We have done some surveys over the last couple of years. I will tell you during COVID and then, of course, with the George Floyd incident and some other challenges that we’ve had in law enforcement nationwide, that we were seeing people exit at a more rapid rate. And some of the research in my dissertation will reflect some of that. But, you know, we are seeing it level off. I will tell you that the leadership that we currently have now at the Arkansas State Police, we’ve seen an increase in recruiting. We’ve seen retention is staying very steady and also hopefully as we’re doing a better job of training our leaders and providing resources like the chaplain program, culturally competent counselors, where we’re seeing the longevity of officers, we’re believing that we’re going to see a long-term impact. But at this point, the program has only been going about two years. So we’re still early on, but we are starting to see some early positive results.
Caruth: I know that that press release also talked about, you know, you guys are hoping to train 100 peer to peer law enforcement officers statewide. Can you talk about that program and what that is?
Clem: Absolutely. Well, and I will tell you, Daniel, I would really like to see — I mean, this is Chris talking — but I’d really like to see five hundred. The program is free. Formerly it was costing different agencies a lot of money. We have recently at DPS and the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training. We have now certified trainers within the state, so we are actually training peer-to-peer officers this year. And we’ve already done one class. We’re doing another one at the end of the month, but we want at least 100. But my goal would be to have 500 or more peers.
A peer, just for clarification, is someone trained to identify burnout. Recognising trauma that could be occurring in some of the other officers because just like in any field and law enforcement in particular, first responders are very insular. And so other officers are more apt to recognise if one of their peers is dealing with something. And so these peers are trained to recognise those things. They’re not trained to be counselors, but they’re kind of like an early-warning device that makes sense where they see, ‘Hey, there’s an issue here and we need to escalate it’. Maybe we need to get the chaplain involved. Maybe we need to get them, you know, recommend that they go to a counsellor. So I’m very excited about that programme because I feel like we as a whole, leadership team feel like that is a critical component to helping our officers stay safer and also just be healthier. And so that’s what that program is. And it’s a 40-hour class. It’s very comprehensive. And we’re already hearing some of the feedback we’ve received from those that have already taken the class, who have said it’s one of the best classes they’ve ever taken in law enforcement. So we’re excited about the impact that can have across the state.
Caruth: Talking about that impact, too, I mean, it's not just increasing, you know, the quality of life and the well-being for the officers. I mean, that has an impact on public safety and how they're able to carry out their jobs and making sure that the people they're protecting and serving are also safe. Can you talk about just sort of the ripple effects of programs like this and why they're important for the public and increasing public trust?
Clem: Yeah, absolutely. Well, here’s the deal. Let me put it to you this way. Daniel, this is, uh, this is my thought process. Have you — let me ask you a question? Have you ever had the flu?
Caruth: I have.
Clem: In your life. Have you ever had the flu? It’s no fun, right? I mean, you’re not enjoying yourself. You feel terrible. Well, in my opinion, cumulative trauma is kind of like having a really bad flu, right? It’s going to impact your performance. You’re not thinking at your best. You’re not operating at 100 percent. And so we recognize that a healthy officer is a happy officer. And a happy officer is going to function better. It’s really common sense. And so we recognize by investing in programmes like POLAR, the peer training, chaplaincy training and others that we’re helping officers become healthier. The by-product of that healthy officer is going to be a safer community. We believe that through programs like what we’re incorporating right now, that we’re going to see the divorce rates in law enforcement go down. And some of the statistics show divorce across the United States and law enforcement as high as 76 percent. We argue that it’s a little higher than that because many of the officers have been married multiple times and divorced. So we recognize that, hey, if we can help these officers be better, give them some tools to be better at home. We’re going to see that divorce rate go down, which again is going to help them be happier. More productive in turn, is going to help us be better on the streets and in our communities. So it’s really a ripple effect. And that’s the approach that we’re taking with the chaplain program, the counselling program, peer-to-peer and others that were initiated.
Just a thought. You know, when I think of a police officer and hopefully the community as they listen to this, they'll understand this as well. Behind every badge is a human being that’s someone’s son or daughter, a spouse, a parent, a grandparent. And the chaplaincy program exists to care for the soul behind the service. I mean, they’re really there to help that person navigate a very difficult calling and help them do it successfully. And so that’s really what the chaplain program is about. That’s really what the initiatives that we’re trying to do through POLAR are about across the state. And we appreciate the public support and look forward to helping any way we can.
That was Chris Clem with the Arkansas Department of Public Safety and Arkansas State Police speaking with Ozarks at Large’s Daniel Caruth last week.
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