In a continuation of a series I began some days ago on Police Dynamics Institute--a frontgroup of the Bill Gothard "Bible-based" cult targeting public safety officials, and one with links to not only some of the most extreme factions of the "Joel's Army" movement but also racist and separatist groups--and potentially other coercive religious groups too--I will touch on a subject I've not dealt with too much:
Namely, what the experience is for people who actually live in "Character Cities". And...as we'll see today and in the next few days...let's just say Gothard's press and the common citizen's experience might as well be in different realities.
Steeplejacking--now at your local friendly police department
Even with the documented links to Gothard's program, it would seem Cincinnati was not the only city to be pulled in wholescale to what amounts to a neopentecostal dominionist cult.
Another city targeted in similar manner was Lexington, Kentucky--which in less than seven years has gone from one of the more liberal cities in the state to a new hotbed for the dominionist movement (including being home for the state Focus on the Family affiliate). A blog from an IBLP staffer associated with the ALERT teams noted the presence of an entire delegation of the Lexington PD--a recent addition to Gothard's list of "Character Cities"--on their recruitment tour to multiple PDs nationally, along with the aforementioned recruitment visit involving members of the Romanian federal police:
During the past couple of weeks my Dad and I were with a delegation of 12 Romanian Police Chiefs that came to visit IBLP Headquarters, and Police Departments in other states. It was a great blessing for me to have been able to go on a trip like this, it really was. I also was able to spend more time with my Dad, which was really good. We had a great time. My Dad was the translator for the delegation, and at times I helped to interpret as well. It was a good oppurtunity for me to practice my Romanian and I enjoyed it.
The delegation arrived at Headquarters on Saturday November 3rd. Monday morning we went to staff meeting, and afterwards got a quick tour of the Production Center. Before we left, Mr. Gothard was able to share the Gospel with these men, and when asked if they would like to pray and accept Christ, they agreed. Whether they truly believed and whether it was sincere, only the Lord knows. Nevertheless, a seed was planted, and we should pray that the Lord would continue to work in their hearts.
On the trip we visited Police Departments in Chicago IL, Lexington, KY, Dorchester County, SC, and King's Mountain, NC. The delegation then flew back to Romania on the 11th from Charlotte, NC. On our way driving back to Chicago, we were able to stop and visit my Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins in Knoxville, TN for a few days. It was so good to see them, and we had a wonderful time. It definitely was a great trip, a great experience, and the Lord blessed.
These cities are far from alone.
A list of "Alumni and Key Contracts" at PDI's website notes the following groups:
1998
South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy staff – Columbia, SC
National Sheriff’s Association Annual Conference – Phoenix, AR
Lifebuilders Conference – Columbia, SC
Heritage Community Services Leadership Conference – Summerton, SC
Law Enforcement Leadership Conference – Indianapolis, IN
International Association of Character Cities – Oklahoma City, OK
Trident Area Community of Excellence – Charleston, SC
Pennsylvania Sheriff’s Association – State College, PA
Romanian National Police – Voineasa, Romania
1999
Ohio Sheriff’s Association – Columbus, OH
Romanian National Police – Bucharest, Romania
American Society of Military Comptrollers – Charleston, SC
United States Air Force, Junior Officer’s Training – Charleston Air Force Base, SC
Trident Area Community of Excellence – Charleston, SC
International Association of Character Cities – Indianapolis, IN
Idaho POST, Law Enforcement Leadership Conference – Boise, ID
Florence City of Character Conference – Florence, SC
National Sheriff’s Association Annual Conference – Columbus, OH
United States Air Force – Charleston Air Force Base Fire Department
Winchester Police Department – Winchester, KY
South Carolina Jail Association – Santee, SC
Moscow Police College, State Law Enforcement Division – Columbia, SC
Cameron and Barkley, Inc. – Hilton Head, SC
Medical University of S.C. Dental College, Ethics class – Charleston, SC
State Law Enforcement Division, Police Ethics – Columbia, SC
2000
South Carolina Department of Corrections, Supervisor training – Columbia, SC
One Hundred Club, Law Enforcement Leadership – Charleston, SC
Cameron and Barkley, Inc. – Atlanta, GA
International Association of Character Cities – Indianapolis, IN
Hawaii County Police Department – Hilo, HI
Hattiesburg Mayor’s Breakfast – Hattiesburg, MS
Indiana Sheriff’s Association – Indianapolis, IN
Cincinnati Police Division – Cincinnati, OH
South Carolina Corrections Association – Myrtle Beach, SC
2001
Allen County Sheriff’s Office – Ft. Wayne, IN
LaGrange County Sheriff’s Office – Shipshewana, IN
Cincinnati Police Division – Cincinnati, OH
South Carolina Jail Administrator's Association – Myrtle Beach, SC
International Association of Character Cities – Flint, MI
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office – Tuscaloosa, AL
Collier County Sheriff’s Office – Naples, FL
South Carolina Department of Corrections, staff training – Columbia, SC
ALERT Academy – Big Sandy, TX
Skiatook Police Department – Skiatook, OK
U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office – Wrightsville Beach, NC
2002
Missouri Department of Conservation, Law Enforcement Division – St. Louis, MO
Owasso Police Department – Owasso, OK
South Carolina Polygraphers Association – Myrtle Beach, SC
Law Enforcement Summit – Ridgecrest, NC
Character Training Institute – Oklahoma City, OK
Cincinnati Police Division – Cincinnati, OH
Indiana Sheriff’s Association – Indianapolis, IN
2003
Illinois Sheriff’s Association – Oakbrook, IL
Colorado Sheriffs’ Association – Ft. Collins, CO
Owasso Police Department – Owasso, OK
Character Training Institute – Indianapolise, IN
Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy – Douglas, WY
It's worth noting a few of the groups that are not PDs here. International Association of Character Cities, Character Training Institute, and ALERT Teams are all Gothard frontgroups. Also of note are a polygrapher's association (often relied upon by police departments before polygraphs were ruled as inadmissible in court due to concerns re reliability); another very disturbing discovery (especially with concerns about military steeplejacking in general, and with ALERT Teams' known support with US Air Force intelligence directors in particular, is the inclusion of Gothardite recruitment sessions at United States Air Force Junior Officer’s Training sessions and American Society of Military Comptrollers at Charleston AFB. The attendance at the Lifebuilders Conference is notable as a very damning link to neopentecostal dominionism; Lifebuilders is a yearly "Lay Missionary" conference of the Church of God of Cleveland, TN, a neopentecostal dominionist group which can be considered a sister church of the Assemblies of God (both are splits from the Christian and Missionary Alliance, one of the earliest pentecostal denominations) and which shares similar theology to the Assemblies; in some ways it is even more explicit, in that part of the church's mission explicitly calls for growth rates of over 10 percent per year to be expected for churches. (This would also be at least the second CoG-related link to Gothard; we went over the "property and money" laundering between WWCoG, Gothard's ALERT Teams, and Hobby Lobby (a funding front for the Assemblies and other "Joel's Army" orgs including Wallbuilders) yesterday.)
Life under a Gothardist PD: some case studies
Gothard and Nash like to promote PDI as helping keep cities safer by having them essentially become dominionist cities.
Unfortunately, even the stories from some of the better-known "example cities" read more like what happens when Judge Dredd Finds Religion.
Cincinnati--which was held up for years by Gothardites as a crown jewel of a "city of character"--ended up descending into bona fide race riots after a notable series of shooting by policemen of African-American suspects--shootings that largely occured after Gothard's PDI program became mandatory for Cincinnati cops. Not only was there evidence of racial profiling, the riots led to a call for complete and systematic reform of the Cincinnati Police Department--eventually leading to a civil rights lawsuit against the CPD.
The riots ended up being sparked over an incident reminiscent of the Rodney King case--in this instance, Cincinnati's cops shooting an unarmed African-American teen; the police officer was indicted but ultimately acquitted of misdemeanor charges.
Not exactly what you'd expect from a "City of Character" based on "Biblical principles".
Sadly, it looks as if Cincy may not be alone as far as towns with troubled "Gothardised" police departments. Folly Beach, SC--home of Terry Boatwright, a potential successor to Ray Nash (who is not running for re-election for Dorchester County sheriff--presumably to concentrate on "shepherding" his particular Gothard front and due to the controversies exposed in the audit)--also has had its shares of troubles due to Judge Dredds for Jesus:
At 12:30 a.m. on Wed., June 6, Folly resident Leshall Conklin left her house on Third Street to ride her bike to Bert's Market. At the corner of Second and East Ashley, a policeman turned on his lights and signaled her to stop. Claiming that she'd been swerving, Conklin says he demanded she breathe in his face. She questioned the request and says she asked for a Breathalyzer.
After an unsuccessful search of his car for that equipment, Charleston County Deputy Sheriff Shawn James informed Conklin that bicyclists and pedestrians don't require a Breathalyzer and began reading her her rights. Dressed in her bathing suit, skirt, and flip-flops, Conklin was taken to the county jail in North Charleston for drunkenness, despite never being given a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test. Her bail hearing was set for 4 p.m. the next afternoon, where she was released on a personal recognizance bond. Just after midnight that evening, after being locked up for 24 hours, Conklin was released.
Conklin is just one of many young Folly Beach residents who have faced arrest under seemingly questionable circumstances in recent months. Eric Kovach, who works at Rip Tide Jet Ski Rentals, was walking to Bert's Market around 4 a.m. on April 20 after a night out. Earlier in the evening, he'd witnessed a county cop approaching people seated on park benches outside the Sand Dollar Bar and demanding to see IDs. He called in a complaint about the cop's actions, which he considered inappropriate. "I don't see how it's right to stop me when I'm not bothering anybody and take 15 minutes out of my time to find out if I'm a wanted person or not," says Kovach.
Outside Bert's, Kovach walked into the road to avoid a puddle beside the building. A police car headed towards him and passed him, then swerved in reverse, and "pretty much about took me out," says Kovach. When the officer saw the name on the license, Kovach says that he asked, "You're the guy who made a complaint on us earlier. Are you going to make a complaint about me?" Kovach, who evidentally photographed the puddle he was avoiding with his camera phone, said that he probably would if he felt unduly harassed. Deputy Shawn James then wrote him a $232 ticket for walking in the roadway and, according to Kovach, threatened to take him to jail for disorderly conduct if he continued to speak.
In fact, Boatwright has been such a terror that much of his force has resigned in protest--requiring him to pull police assistance from Charleston. And he's notably sparked all manner of protest from people in the area.
And in another instance of "Many, many things PDI come back to the Romanian Tour", it seems that Ray Nash rather explicitly asked his protege Boatwright to give the recruits from Romania a tour of the town lowlights:
On an otherwise quiet Thursday afternoon, the Folly Beach Public Safety Department hosted about 20 Romanian police officers, chiefs and commissioners to learn about "community policing."
Police in the Eastern European nation are trying to improve relations with the Romanian people, who still distrust them 17 years after the fall of communism, officers said.
. . .
Their American contact here was Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash, who met a member of the Romanian delegation when he spoke at a conference last year about policing. Nash was invited to Romania to speak about community policing, an invitation he accepted.
To get firsthand experience, the Romanians came to visit Nash and see Dorchester County, one of several stops in their weeklong trip to America. Nash, an honorary Romanian police officer, asked the Folly Beach Public Safety Department to co-host the Romanians and teach them about how they do community policing.
Folly Beach hosted lunch for the officers with Frogmore Stew, took them out to the beach and to shops on Center Street. Many had never seen the Atlantic Ocean before.
Other cities on the Romanians' tour included Chicago; Lexington, Ky.; and King's Mountain, N.C.
Yes, for the record, Folly Beach is also where Terry Broadwright is now chief of police--yes, the same one running for Ray Nash's position now that Nash is concentrating on running the Bill Gothard Police Recruitment Division. I wouldn't be a bit surprised, though it would be darned hard to find out, that Boatwright might well be "shepherded" by Nash in similar manner to how Phil Heimlich and others were recruited.
And it would seem that Folly Branch and Cincy are far from isolated in being particularly problematic "Gothard Cities". Oklahoma City--the de facto home of Gothard's operations nowadays--has had some particularly troubling issues as well.
And it's OKC's experience with Gothardisation we'll deal with in our next post.