AP-PA--Pennsylvania News Digest, PA

Fake gun, real crime: Police notice uptick in replicas

PITTSBURGH (AP) — It took a tragedy. And there was never any question that the crash of United Flight 93 in a reclaimed Somerset County strip mine on 9/11 was a tragedy of national significance. Acknowledging the searing toll on troopers tasked to the crash site where 40 passengers and crew died at the hands of terrorists, former Gov. Tom Ridge and then-state police Commissioner Paul Evanko called for the creation of the Pennsylvania State Police chaplaincy. Today, there are 63 state police chaplains, trained in police protocols and procedure, scattered across the state, tasked to serve those who serve and protect. Nearly 13 years to the day after 9/11, on Sept. 12, 2014, Monsignor Thomas Muldowney's phone number was the first Capt. Christopher Paris punched in as he rushed to the Blooming Grove barracks, where a sniper had fled into the mountains after killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass in a late-night ambush. Muldowney, 47, a Roman Catholic priest with the Scranton Diocese who became a state police chaplain in 2005, had earned the trust of the troopers. And on this night, Paris knew it would be needed. Before the night was over, Muldowney accompanied troopers to Dickson's mother's home to notify her of his death. Then they drove to Dixon's father's workplace, where he was working the night shift. "He was there throughout it," Paris said Later, Muldowney, who had met Dickson during his visits to the station, officiated at the trooper's funeral where hundreds of police officers crowded into the Scranton Cathedral where the young father of two was eulogized as "an impeccable trooper." For weeks, Muldowney returned to Blooming Grove every day as 400 troopers scoured the heavily wooded mountains during a 48-day manhunt that culminated in the capture of Eric Matthew Frein, a self-styled survivalist facing capital murder charges. "There were very few days when I wasn't present," Muldowney recalled. "When we look at our role as chaplain, it is to support state troopers and civilian staff and their families. During the manhunt, troopers from all over the commonwealth that I did not know personally engaged in that search. But I was there to help them navigate things." Like the other 62 state police chaplains, Muldowney is a volunteer. But he sees the troopers as a vital part of his ministry. "He checks in every week and is a staple of support during illness and deaths. He has what you can't get with a title. He has the trust of the members, and he's earned it," Paris said. The Rev. Robert Byrnes, a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg and longtime state police chaplain, already was a chaplain at the state police Southwest Training Center in Hempfield when the chaplaincy program was launched in 2001. "It wasn't until the following year that the first class of chaplains was organized. I was already involved there, so the state police commissioner invited me to be part of it. I helped interview clergy of different denominations," Byrnes said. Sgt. Kelly Lentz manages the police agency's member assistance program. "The chaplains are a big part of our operation. We provide specific training each one must complete," Lentz said. "Their main job is to offer spiritual support to anyone in the department in need. They assist in death notifications, funerals, special events and critical incidents." Craig Hungler, a retired police officer and director of the International Conference of Police Chaplains, has seen the system at work. "The chaplains who minister to police take a huge burden from them just by being there and listening and letting them unload during a critical incident or a ride-along," Hungler said. "The academies do a great job of preparing police for the physical and intellectual part of the job, but we all have a third leg to the stool, and that's the faith of spiritual leg. ... When the chaplains support that part of your life, you have a more well-rounded individual." In an era when police agencies have felt the sting of public criticism, it can be a critical resource. The Rev. Gary Evans of Verona, ordained in the Assemblies of God, is a chaplain with Heartland Hospice in Irwin. He joined the chaplaincy program in 2010 after moving here from Connecticut, where he had served with the state police chaplaincy. "I always knew that a chaplaincy would be part of my pastorate," said Evans, who also served with the New Jersey State Police. Evans was called from Connecticut to New York's JFK International Airport as part of the critical incident stress management team following the 9/11 attacks. He counseled American Airlines crews returning to the city from around the world raw with the knowledge that their co-workers had died in the hijacked jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Two months later, when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Queens, killing all 260 aboard and five on the ground, he was called to JFK again. Evans, who teaches courses in critical incident stress management, also was on the scene following the Virginia Tech shootings and at California wildfires. He said the volunteers he has met as chaplain coordinator for Southwestern Pennsylvania are among the best he's known. The agency's training and vetting procedures are very rigorous, and it shows, he said. "I am immensely proud of the guys I'm privileged to work with. Each of them in their own trooper areas, they go out there every day, and they do it well," Evans said. That it took a tragedy to build that resource in one of the nation's oldest statewide police agencies still puzzles some. Brynes remembers the response when he showed a trooper and close friend the certificate proclaiming the priest a state police chaplain. "I'll never forget him looking at that certificate and saying, 'It's about time we got with it,' " Brynes said. Sidebar: Serving those who serve and protect Duties state police chaplains provide may include: . Assist at suicide incidents . Assist in making death notifications . Assist with transients and the homeless . Counsel law enforcement officers and their families . Counsel the local law enforcement community . Counsel officers in areas such as stress management, post-shooting, burnout . Counsel other members of a department . Counsel the families of law enforcement officers and other department personnel . Respond to religious questions . Offer prayer at special occasions such as recruit graduations, awards ceremonies . Provide assistance to victims . Provide for the spiritual needs of prisoners as requested . Provide guidance should a line-of-duty death occur within the department or community . Serve as liaison with other clergy in the community . Serve on a department's Crisis Response Team . Offer workshops in areas such as stress management, ethics, family life and pre-retirement classes . Visit sick or injured officers and departmental personnel in homes and hospitals Source: International Conference of Police Chaplains ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2c0ojrP ___ Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

State police chaplains serve those who serve and protect