We train our Gatekeepers to recognize people that “Don’t Look Right” and to question the person with “Aggressive Friendliness” so that we can get an idea if there might be a problem with the individual.

That’s a good technique for the Bad Guys that might lean toward out-right violence, but what about the “Sexual Predator”?

We all want to think that we are prepared to take on the Active Shooter, but the chances of a sexual assault is much more likely to happen at your church than an active shooter. So what does the sexual predator look like? What does the grooming process look like? What is the “Grooming Process”? There are lots of programs on the market that addresses these subjects. I’m sure that your children’s and youth ministries know of companies like MinistrySafe. Most people outside of these ministries think that background checks are the only thing involved with volunteers working with minors. A program like MinistrySafe includes a five step process which includes the education of volunteers, background checks, policies and procedures, etc..

What does this have to do with church security? Officers on the security team have a gun and know how to do an arm-bar takedown. Where do the Gatekeepers come in with sexual predators?

Ever heard of the phase “Registered Sex Offender” (RSO)? While a Gatekeeper may not need his/her gun or to land hands on an RSO, certain parts of this issue come under the “People hurting people on purpose” or as I like to call it “Security”.

There are several cases where the security team might get involved with this issue. I’ll try to get this right as much as possible. I am not an attorney and can not give the church legal advice.

Case 1. When a person is convicted of certain sex crimes and they are commanded by the court to register as a sex offender. There is a record that can be accessed by the public. Also, the person, now a “Registered Sex Offender”, must meet requirements of their release/parole. One requirement typically is if they want to attend places where children are routinely present (like a church), they must get permission from the church.

Case 2. You are standing post in the church lobby and a man comes up to you and says “That guy over there raped my daughter last year and is a RSO that is not supposed to be anywhere near children.”

This is where security gets involved. What is the church’s policy on allowing RSO’s to be on church property? Do you allow this suspected RSO to run free in your church? What about the RSO that have come asking permission from the church to attend? Are you going to go the Chaperone method? What if you have 10 RSO’s in your church that you did not know about. Are you going to chaperone 10 people? Here is a great article from MinistrySafe giving some great advise.

Solutions:

Our good friends at MinistrySafe have an article that is well worth reading to give the church some advice about consideration that church might want to consider about RSO in their church. LINK HERE

Another great resource is the “Grace Church” story of how a young man, full of potential in everyone’s eyes, fell from a position of trust in the church. A very costly lesson. LINK HERE

I have know Gregory Love of MinistrySafe for over a decade and believe their solutions are the very best. They recently raised their prices after eight years at an incredible price. If you use our coupon code of NOCSSM2024 get $100 off the first year. Link here - MinistrySafe.com/NOCSSM

Remember that you can check your entire membership and visitor against the Registered Sexual Offender Database at: https://www.nsopw.gov/

I hope you found this article worth the long read.