Despite my mixed feelings about my first patrol as an observer, and the tentativeness of my expression of interest, I pressed ahead with the training, and before I knew it I had become a commissioned Street Pastor. That’s not to say there wasn’t a considerable amount of paperwork, training and other admin involved, but it all seemed to have happened fast. A couple of years ago, I would never have even entertained the idea of becoming an evangelist. Taking Christianity out on the streets, becoming a bridge between the Church and the secular world, is such a big step. The position does indeed come with a load of responsibility and no doubt there’ll be the occasional emotionally challenging situations, though the public will only see us handing out stuff and cleaning up glass. I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who’s already been doing it for several years.
Generally the training was pretty good. Some of the sessions were the standard volunteer induction about drugs, alcohol, safeguarding, mental health. That sort of thing. Most of that, particularly the mental health and alcohol/drug-related issues, are learned very quickly on the job anyway, especially working in a night shelter. Safeguarding is primarily about covering our asses, about setting boundaries, about avoiding situations that could lead to awkward legal issues. If there’s one thing one should take away from these sessions, it’s the contact details of local organisations – business cards wherever possible. A lot of my work involves ‘signposting’. Other than that, I was rather surprised at the intellectual and philosophical depth of a couple of the sessions.
The commissioning service was a big deal for most the people there – the mayor, a couple of police officers, the local Anglican priest and a rep from the Ascension Trust showed up. Next week I’ll be meeting up with Les Isaacs. We made a few affirmations, put on our caps and then officially became Street Pastors.
My First Shift
And last night I went out on my first real patrol. There’s not as much trouble in our relatively small town as there was a decade ago, when there were a few notoriously dangerous spots here on a Saturday night – glassings and stabbings at 2:00AM weren’t uncommon, and the restaurant/club I worked at was one of the four main places they would happen. Things have changed. Now most the town is dead quiet, with about a hundred people milling around outside the one pub by the station – there weren’t even as many there as I’d expected this time of year.
So, last night’s shift was uneventful. We handed out roughly 50 lollipops, which for some reason everyone keeps asking us for, plus all the bottles of water. Several people stopped us to say what a good job we’re doing
Kit List
It’s essential to be prepared by having the right kit with you. Among other things, I carry:
- Cellphone: In the very unlikely event you find drugs lying around, or your team is involved in a physical confrontation, it’s important to cover yourself by logging that fact with the police as soon as possible.
- Notebook and pen: If something isn’t documented in writing, it didn’t happen. Don’t rely on anyone else to record something hours after the fact.
- A good flashlight: The one I have is of the ‘tactical’ variety, which I always have in my car. It has an SOS beacon capable of getting the attention of police and ambulance crew, and it has a strobe capable of blinding and disorienting an attacker long enough to get away. The toothed bezel is capable of breaking glass in an emergency.
- Standard military-issue field dressing: Known in the civvy world as ‘trauma dressing’, this is the most valuable first aid item one could carry, in my opinion. An ambulance might not be available for several hours on a Saturday night, even for serious injuries.
- Card holder: Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is provide someone with contact details to a local charity or other organisation. Have business cards for these handy.
- Sanitising gel: We could be picking up needles, glass, administering first aid, etc.
A Catholic Commentarium 