Richmond Heights Police chaplain supports officers, community
Aug. 19—The Rev. Leon Thompson once worked for Lincoln Electric, now he serves the police and the Lord.
Dressed in an all-brown suit with brown slacks, a gold police badge swings from his neck as he studies a leather-bound book. A confident man who speaks quietly but decisively, Thompson became the first Black Richmond Heights Police chaplain a year ago, and now he's University Circle's first police chaplain as well.
How the pastor for Allen Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Cleveland became the spiritual advisor to the police and public started with a chance meeting at a local Dave's Supermarket where he ran into then Richmond Heights Chief Tom Wetzel who is now head of the University Circle Police Department.
They talked and in sharing information found they had a common interest in what a chaplain could do for police and residents.
"We first brought him in as a police chaplain in Richmond Heights," Wetzel said. "He's still active there, and when I went to University Circle (to be chief), they have never had a police chaplain program, and I was just so impressed with just the kind of man he is; he's just such a kind man. I asked him if he wanted to be our first ever police chaplain."
The roles that police chaplains serve can vary, but they often revolve around helping officers cope with the stress of the job.
"He's more like an ambassador for the department," Wetzel said. "He's also like a counselor. If officers want to talk to him privately, they can do it and it stays with him.
"So, if there are any type of stress they are going through or, God forbid someone gets seriously hurt or worse, they can visit the family or visit the officer in the hospital."
Thompson himself was grateful for the chance to help the community.
"I was happy to be able to come on and help in that way," he said. "I had applied in the past but wasn't able to, but I told myself 'God does things in his own time' and it seems like it's my time now."
Before his current church in Cleveland, Thompson was the pastor for the Friendship Baptist Church in Warren. The years before gaining his own fellowship were spent in college, not just for the paperwork as Thompson says, but because he felt that there were many loud voices already in the role and some of them didn't have much to say.
"I wanted to make sure that I was sharing the word of God properly," Thompson said. "So, I went back to school. I went to Ashland Theological Seminary to get my bachelor's and my master's, and then after that to Louisiana Baptist University for my Ph.D. in biblical studies.
"You know the officers, they encounter so many different struggles," he said. "Internally and externally and sometimes it's overwhelming and they need someone to talk to. That's where I come in as a chaplain."
Thompson says his role can be challenging if the community isn't on the same page as the Police Department, as can be the case in officer-involved shootings.
"I'll assess that situation from all parties, and I'll figure out what the best-case scenario is," he said. "If the officer is wrong, and we acknowledge that, we certainly can say that. But ultimately if he is wrong, I want to share that Christ is a forgiving God. We have to be accountable for our actions, we have to think better.
"And we have to focus, and more importantly we have to realize what we have done and if there are consequences then we have to accept them."
Thompson said that often the clash between the needs of the community, God and being employed — even if unpaid — by the police can be hard to balance for him, but in those times, he found that family is often the solution.
"When it relates to the community and they are in an uproar, I will share with the community that being in an uproar doesn't solve anything," he said. "I know that you are hurting, I know there is pain and that you feel there that there is an injustice that has been done. But God knows these things too, and we ought to cast our cares on him and he will fix the situation on both sides.
"Some of the things that I have listened to and had to hear," Thompson continued. "It's just amazing, in this time the things that people are faced with. And they just need an outlet sometime. They just need someone to say 'listen, I care. I love you. I understand it. But just please hold on.'"
Thompson hopes by bringing peace, love, and understanding to policing, he can play a part in healing the community and supporting police officers.
