Sept 27 2002 – A rabbi and a sheikh walk into a police station and talk to an officer about troubles confronting society.
No, not a religious joke, but a step towards what NSW Police believes will help break down religious and racial barriers in the force and the community.
It happened at the Sydney Police Centre yesterday when Sheikh Khalil Chami became the first Muslim cleric to be installed as a police chaplain and Rabbi Mendel Kastel only the second Jewish religious leader to hold such a post.
They were invested in a non-denominational prayer service by police chaplains Father Jim Boland and the Rev Graeme Dark and attended by representatives of their faiths and other religions, and officials of the Australian Islamic Council.
The pair join five full-time police chaplains and 90 part-timers in what the Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, called a historic step to overcome cultural divides arising from the September 11 attacks and gang rapes in Sydney’s south-west.
Buddhist and Hindu priests were also being considered for the chaplaincy, Mr Moroney said.
“It is important police have the opportunity to seek advice, guidance and counsel from all manner of people, none the least from members of their own faith.
“Prejudice exists in all manner and forms in all parts of the world; that it should exist is an indictment on society.
“Our two newest senior chaplains, together with the other members of the Christian faiths, are an important adjunct to policing and I am sure they will support and underpin how we as an organisation provide a level of service to the community.”
Sheikh Chami, who arrived from Lebanon 39 years ago and helped build the Lakemba Mosque before becoming spiritual leader of the Penthurst Mosque, said there was misdirected ill-will from within the Muslim community towards police.
“I think this will bring the community together and communication will be better in future,” he said. “I am very proud to be part of this country. I feel now we make the history now, doing something no-one has done before in NSW. We have all the faiths working together for the benefit of the community.”
Sheikh Chami said he would encourage Muslims to join up. “I will be very very happy to announce it in my mosque … I will do my best to make these people join the force because if they are in it they will find out how they can help their community.
“If we have a lot of [Muslim] policemen then probably our community will be less trouble.”
He also looked forward to working with Rabbi Kastel. “I will work with every person; I always put my hand [out] for any person who works for the community, for the welfare of the community. I will be very proud to work with him, it doesn’t matter what is their faith.”
Rabbi Kastel, born in New York, said about a dozen Jewish officers had already contacted him. He had recently attended the funeral of a Jewish officer and would soon attend the wedding of another.
He said his investiture was important for Jewish and non-Jewish officers, and for the Jewish community, in understanding customs.
