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Alabama State Senate Votes To Allow Church To Have Own Police Force

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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Alabama moved closer to enabling a local church to have its own police force Tuesday.

According to National Public Radio, the Alabama state Senate voted 24-4 on legislation that would give church police officers the same powers as official Alabama law enforcement.

The bill, which is reportedly unprecedented in nature within the U.S., now heads to the state House, where an identical piece of legislation was being considered in the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee back in February.

Both bills mention, Alabama Public Radio (APR) reported, Briarwood Presbyterian Church, a large Birmingham that “says it needs its own police officers to keep its school as well as its more than 4,000 person congregation safe.”

Although the legislation requires such officers to trained and certified by state standards and their authority would be limited to church campuses and properties, APR notes that critics of the legislation claim the church’s police could be used to cover up illegal activity.

However, shootings at places of worship in the U.S., have motivated lawmakers and parishioners to debate different solutions to find ways to protect congregations.  The North Carolina legislature is considering a bill that would allow for permit holders to carry firearms on church and school property.

New Life, a church in Colorado, is part of a growing number of churches around the country, Fox News reported, that has armed security on their property. The move saved lives in 2007 when a gunman, Matthew Murray, killed two people outside the church and entered the facility with a rifle, two pistols, and around 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Murray was stopped by Jeanne Assam, an armed volunteer security guard for the church, before he could kill anyone else.

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