Response by Catawba County to Church Burnings
Around the Country

On June 6, 1996 the Matthews Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina was destroyed by a fire set by a juvenile. Up until this time, there had been twenty-one (21) church fires in North Carolina dating back to 1994. Eight of these fires occurred at predominantly black churches, three at multi-racial/multi-cultural churches and ten at predominantly white churches. Eleven of these church fires were ruled accidental in nature.

The day after the Mecklenburg County church fire, Catawba County Sheriff L. David Huffman instructed his Executive Officer to see what could be done to prevent church burnings in Catawba County.

On September 9th, 1996, a meeting was held in Hickory, North Carolina with representatives of the Black Ministerial Alliance, each of the eight police departments, the Hickory, Catawba and several municipal fire marshals and fire chiefs, the District Attorney’s Office, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Bureau of Investigation. This meeting, organized jointly by the executive officers of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office and the Hickory Police Department, served as a catalyst to bring all of the departments together, each committing individually to do whatever was necessary to prevent a church burning in Catawba County.

A pamphlet entitled "Tips on How to Protect Your Church from Arson and Other Crimes" was developed and published by the Crime Prevention Unit, Catawba County Sheriff’s Department, using material gleaned from an Anti-Defamation League publication entitled "Preventing Crimes Against Institutions," a US ATF publication entitled "Church Threat Assessment Guide" and numerous crime prevention resources available over the Internet. Copies were mailed to all the churches located within the County.

Recognizing that church burning was both a crime prevention and a fire prevention issue, representatives from the Hickory Police Department, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, the Hickory and Catawba County Fire Marshals offices and the N. C. Highway Patrol met and developed a crime/fire prevention program to present to the individual churches located in Catawba County. Although a name was never assigned, the name "Church Watch" was used by several officers in discussing this project.

A survey was conducted by each of the departments of all of the churches located within their jurisdictions, and each church was categorized according to its vulnerability to a fire, break-in or other crime. Letters were sent out to each of the churches located in the County informing them of the commitment of all the departments in the county to prevent church burnings or other crimes to churches, and offering to visit each church and present the church fire/crime prevention program.

Since it was obvious that many of the church burnings around the country resulted from "copy cat" activity, following major media coverage of other church fires, it was decided from the beginning to pursue the church fire/crime prevention program without publicity. In addition, since the church was considered the cornerstone of the community, a crime committed against the church was a crime against everyone in the community. Therefore, a very high priority was assigned in responding to any incident involving a church. All departments were made aware of this priority response, and patrols were stepped up in areas where churches were located.

A number of church fire/crime prevention presentations have since been given to churches in the Catawba County area since this project was initiated on June 7, 1996. In most cases, the audiences have included the church pastor or reverend as well as members of boards of deacons or elders, or church council members. Emphasis was placed on having church members living within sight of the church, or traveling by the church, to be aware of any suspicious individuals or activity around the church, and on the importance of reporting to law enforcement authorities immediately any such activity. Along with the Catawba County and Hickory Fire Marshal, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office and Hickory Police Department’s crime prevention officers and a representative of the NC Highway Patrol met together and came up with a training program to present to civic groups and church groups. Numerous copies of this program have been requested and disseminated around the country.

Among the many benefits from this project in this early stage are the following:

(1) Follow-up physical security surveys of several of the churches,

(2) Improved communication between the law enforcement, fire prevention and the church community,

(3) Enhanced understanding and cooperation between several of the churches with the fire marshals, who conduct annual fire inspections,

(4) Closer working relationships between the numerous law enforcement and fire departments within the County.

(5) Increased awareness on the part of church officials of the fire hazards and physical security vulnerabilities common to churches and other public institutions.

CHURCH ARSON PREVENTION FOLLOW-UP

The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office applied for and received a $4,600.00 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice, to enhance the Church Arson Prevention Program on September 30, 1997. A committee, which consisted of members of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Hickory Police Department, NC Highway Patrol, Catawba County Fire Marshal’s Office, Hickory Fire Marshal’s Office and representatives of the Clergy, was formed to determine how these funds should be expended. Letters were again sent out to all houses of worship in the County regarding this grant soliciting input and requesting applications for assistance. Twenty-three (23) houses of worship responded with requests for assistance.

The committee met on several occasions to review the applications for assistance and finally recommended that the $4,600.00 be expended to the churches requesting assistance directly. Each had documented a legitimate need.

A community meeting was held at the Emergency Operations Center, Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, on February 19, 1997 consisting of citizens in the community, clergy, and representatives from all of the police and fire agencies in Catawba County. Mr. Ed Willever, Coordinator for the Church Arson Prevention Program, National Sheriff’s Association, and Sheriff L. David Huffman presented 23 checks for $200.00 each to the churches requesting assistance. Mr. Willever announced that additional grant funding through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) would be made available in the near future.

During the summer of 1997 the National Sheriff’s Association contracted a professional film company, RXL Pulitzer from Spokane, Washington to produce a training film on the subject of Church Arson Prevention. Most of this film was produced in Catawba County. The film, "The Burnings", is 10 ½ minutes in length.

A community meeting was again held at the Emergency Operations Center, Catawba County Sheriff’s Office. Most of the participants in the film attended. The uncut version of this film was shown for the first time at this meeting. Mr. Ed Willever thanked those present at the meeting for the program in Catawba, which by now was generating considerable interest on a national level.

The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office received national awards from the National Association of Counties (NaCo), the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) and special recognition from U. S. Senator Lauch Faircloth for the Church Arson Prevention Program in Catawba County.

In June 1997 the program was expanded in several areas. Although ‘keep safe’ checks at houses of worship were being frequently conducted, they were not being documented. A decal was produced by Sgt. Alan Pope for each church in Catawba County which was affixed to an entrance of the church building. Each church was assigned a unique number so that the name of the church was not aired on the radio when officers conducted ‘keep safe’ checks. Most of the different police departments placed the stickers on the individual churches within their jurisdictions and established their individual ‘keep safe’ check policy. Several departments along with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office instituted a logging system within the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system whereby the keep safe checks were recorded. From July through December 1997 over 7,500 ‘keep safe’ checks were conducted by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Maiden Police Department, Longview Police Department, Claremont Police Department, and Catawba Police Department.

In October 1997 the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office requested funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to host a state wide Church Arson Prevention training conference. The request for this conference, scheduled for May 1998, was approved and planning was initiated in January 1998.