CMPD Hosts House of Worship Safety Seminar
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CHARLOTTE, NC — The shootings in Charleston have local churches on watch. Friday, CMPD hosted a seminar on how to protect places of worship. As WCCB Charlotte’s Amy Cowman eports, police say you can never be too prepared for an emergency situation.
“People want to feel safe when they come to church, and before Charleston, I think people felt safer,” said Ed Holland of Friendship Missionary Baptist.
And that is the main reason hundreds of church pastors and leaders came to CMPD’s seminar on keeping your house of worship safe.
“The demo on using the table as barricade, simple as it seemed, was a great idea,” said Eddie Robertson of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
CMPD gave instructions on several tactics, from what to do in a crisis, to being on the lookout for strangers and having a cell phone nearby without being distracted by it. Church officials say it’s always on their mind now after the Charleston church shootings.
“It’s kinda shaky, it’s nervous for people being in churches, especially black churches,” said Thomas Page of Marvin AME Zion Church.
Many church leaders say after Charleston, they’ve already made new security plans.
“One of the biggest assets we have is deputies on site, deputy sheriffs on site,” said Robertson.
If they don’t have security, CMPD says church members need to be prepared if they need to take action.
“If you have an active shooter, I think you got to be able to think the way they’re asking you to think, you have to, because you could die,” said Holland.
Between the morning and afternoon sessions, police say about 600 church officials signed up for the seminar. This is the first of it’s kind and only one planned right now, hoping to get church officials thinking about more safety at their place of worship.
