By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

For the first time the history of the Republican or Democratic conventions, 50 police chaplains will form a support network to assist law enforcement during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul next week.

William Nordmark, the senior pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Burnsville, will be one of the 50 chaplains. He will be the only one attending the event as a chaplain from the Savage Police Department.

Nordmark lives in St. Paul where he moved after living in Savage for nearly 15 years. He has been a pastor for 29 years.

Police chaplain groups will be located in several different sections of the convention including the inner and outer perimeters, inside the Xcel Center and possibly with a mobile field-force team, said Crime Prevention Officer Pat Mans.

The police chaplains are not there for political reasons, Mans stressed. Their main job is to support law enforcement, whether it be counseling or faith based. If citizens need them, they will be there, but law enforcement is their primary responsibility, he said.

“With the experience level these guys (chaplains) have, the benefits far outweigh the negative that could ever happen there,” Mans said. “This is groundbreaking. This is the foundation for things to come in the future. If things work well, you will probably see police chaplains at other places.”

The police chaplain’s point of view is a lot different than the tasks a police officer has to perform, Mans explained. “In a support role, they have so much to offer, he said. “To take advantage of that at an event like this is going to be a huge positive, not only for Savage to have Pastor Will involved, but we are going to see a lot of good work done by chaplains that has not been seen (at an event like this) before.”

Nordmark is one of the original police chaplains for the Savage Police Department and has been with the department for six years. He has also done a variety of training in different police chaplaincy programs in Apple Valley, Edina and Burnsville.

Nordmark answered a few questions prior to his service at the convention next week. Look for a story about Nordmark’s experiences at the Republican National Convention following the event.

Q & A

What do you expect to do in your role as a police chaplain during the Republican National Convention?

I would like to see a lot of people in attendance and be as bored as possible. But overall we just don’t know what to expect. I am hoping to support the police officers, both personally as well as offer anything I can do for them as a chaplain/human being as they assist the public.

What do you mean by seeing a lot of people and being bored as possible?

If it’s boring I won’t have much conversation with the public, but will have more focus with the police officers. But I will stay with the public if police need assistance and have to go somewhere else.

What services will you offer? To whom will you offer them?

To anybody that a police officer says needs assistance. It can be in any situation whether they’re injured or lost. Again, we just don’t know. We’ve been told whatever we do as chaplains in our home towns we can do there, whether that’s praying with somebody in a very ecumenical kind of way or holding somebody’s hand. We’ll do whatever needs to be done.

When rendering the services will you be proactive or wait for services come to you? Will you be visible?

Yeah, we’ll be visible, but we don’t know where we will be visible. We may possibly be walking, but no matter where we’re at, we will know where police officers are and they’ll know where we are with communication devices. So I think it will be whatever police need at the time.

Do you know where you will be stationed?

No. That is something we don’t know. We could be lots of places like the command center or we could be on call and do a St. Paul police chaplain’s job, because all the St. Paul chaplains are at the Xcel Center or disbursed. We just don’t know.

How long is a shift?

There are two shifts each day of the convention from 2 to 6 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m.

Are you excited? If so, what are you most excited about?

I guess I’m excited. I have a little anxiety for the unknown. I’m a history major in college and I get into civics even though I get really frustrated by politics. This is history, whether a Republican becomes president, that’s beside the point. It’s history.

What’s it like going into something not knowing what to expect?Pastors do that several times in their careers, especially as young pastors. We as pastors don’t always know what we are getting ourselves into, we just do what we do and relate to a person on a human level by listening to them. I don’t know that I will hug someone, but you are a human being who is there because you care and without any politics or religious affiliation we do what we can. We will all do the best we can, but we honestly just don’t know what to expect. As a history buff, what’s it like to have a role as the first group of chaplains at a national political convention?

I’m from near Chicago and the 1968 Democratic Convention was chaos. I was going to be a senior in high school at that time. How much did I pay attention? Not a whole lot. When I was a freshman in college is when I heard more about it. Someone I knew got caught up in all the riots and I remember hearing those stories. From what I hear, the southwest part of Chicago still hasn’t recovered, meaning some of the building that were burned were torn down and are still empty lots. I can’t imagine that happening in St. Paul. I hope this convention can be a good one for the delegates, the police officers and the protesters because that is the American way. We have the right and privilege to protest. These kinds of national events are when we do it because it gets the media coverage. Hopefully, it will be done in good ways.

Why did you choose to do this?

One reason is because I was asked and a second is because I could do it. My only other alternative to be a part of this other than as a bystander would be as a protester, so this is how I can participate in the civic process.

Will you only serve one specific religious denomination as a police chaplain?

No, I am not just a Lutheran pastor at that moment. I am a St. Paul/Savage police chaplain. I will work with whomever. I will not even think of asking if they are Lutheran or Catholic or whatever. We are very non-denominational that way. This will be a very ecumenical group.

Are you going to be recognized as a pastor or a face in the crowd?

Our shirts and IDs will say police chaplain. We were never told to wear collars. That would identify us, but there are certain denominations that wear collars and others that don’t.

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com. 

 

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