“It's precautionary,” Sheriff Wes Tripp said this evening. “You read in the news of things happening at churches. We want to get ahead of the game.”

Under the program, the sheriff's office will assess church property and offer advice on implementing security measures. “We have had incidents in the past. We have seen offering plates stolen. We are offering our services and offering helpful suggestions.”

In a news release Tripp explained there are four goals of the program:

• Prevent violence in places of worship

• Conduct threat assessments

• Reduce casualties in the event of crisis

• Identify strategies to reduce risk and liabilities

Tripp said he and his staff will meet with church leadership to identify motivating factors in church violence, discuss local trends in church related crime, survey and make recommendations at physical locations, provide security consulting for church staff and participants, and discuss a number of crime prevention measures.

Tripp said in the news release he is hopeful that the program will result in further coordination of the faith based community working together in crime prevention and establish safety committees that share information. “The sheriff’s office is also hopeful that by partnering with the faith based community, that common goals such as community service in times of relief efforts or participation with other public outreach programs will have increased success.”

Tripp will be mailing out invitations to all area churches and is encouraging any interested faith based organization to contact him at the sheriff’s office at 252-583-8201 or on his cell phone at 252-578-6761, to coordinate participation or answer any questions.