Protecting Houses of Worship

Over a hundred churchgoers gathered yesterday evening at the Cody Auditorium – but it wasn’t for a religious service.

Rather, it was to learn how they could protect their houses of worship, and their parishioners, from harm.

A panel of 6 experts led the meeting yesterday to help educate attendees on how they can help to prevent hate crimes against places of worship. One of those experts was Cody’s police chaplain, Warren Murphy. He says the response to the forum was much better than they expected.

One of the organizers of the event was Cody Police Chief Chuck Baker. He says that he was approached by several local congregations to help them set up security measures and protect their property and programs. So he said they decided to open the opportunity to all churches in the region, which all have different security concerns.

Other panelists at the forum represented agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, private security firms, and the United States Attorney’s Office.