KINGSTON, Jamaica – Cops under stress are to receive spiritual support from pastors who are to be assigned to each police station, Assistant JCF Chaplain, Bishop Gary Welsh announced yesterday.

One hundred and fifty pastors had already volunteered to take on the job, but there were still more than 300 vacancies to be filled, said Welsh who noted that the objective of this new initiative was to "influence police work with faith".

"The stations' pastors are ministers of the gospel from any denomination. We have several members of the force who are already Christians and serving in the station formation," he said.

"What we need is for a pastor to go into that station and give spiritual support to them," he told the Observer yesterday after a thanksgiving service at the Ferry Police Station in St Catherine.

"Police stations need pastors because this is a highly stressful job in which people from all walks of life call upon us and pull on our resources and we have to recognise that we get our strength from God," said Welsh. (Jamaica Observer)