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> Often, after a long career in the FBI, agents will join the Latter-day Saints’ Security Department Why does a church have a security department, especially o

> Often, after a long career in the FBI, agents will join the Latter-day Saints’ Security Department Why does a church have a security department, especially one that staffs so many people? The article states that most of them work desk jobs, which probably means they aren't running physical security at individual churches, so what kind of threats does the church overall face?

red-iron-pine 3y ago
Great way to hide money -- be a church. They also lobby hard, and track their missionaries closely. I'll give them a pass on some of the missionaries work, they often go to places that can be dicey.
elliekelly 3y ago
I would imagine it’s less to police or protect the church locations and more to “police” the actions of their parishioners.
- deadscottfalcon 3y ago
  Unrelated, I once did a salesforce buildout for a well-known church. You would be surprised at the amount of fields on the “church member management” page. Large text fields for input on “what did this person say about the church that was negative?” Investigation and credibility tracking… I was shocked.
  - cjmcqueen 3y ago
    The LDS Church doesn't have a record keeping tool like this and it is intentional. We believe in repentance and records like that can often get in the way of the repentance process
- cjmcqueen 3y ago
  No it's not. The church owns a lot of property and has many high profile leaders. Church security does not do anything close to police work on/for parishioners.
slv77 3y ago
They have a large number of volunteers either proselytizing or serving in various countries. Security help ensure that the areas they serve in are reasonably safe. For example, moving out people in advance of the war in Ukraine [1]. These are similar to the teams or consultants that travel manage risks for large, global conglomerates. In addition any high profile event or personality is a potential target and requires people who can help manage the risks. 1 -https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/missionaries-ukraine https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/missionarie...

red-iron-pine 3y ago

Great way to hide money -- be a church. They also lobby hard, and track their missionaries closely. I'll give them a pass on some of the missionaries work, they often go to places that can be dicey.

elliekelly 3y ago

I would imagine it’s less to police or protect the church locations and more to “police” the actions of their parishioners.

deadscottfalcon 3y ago
Unrelated, I once did a salesforce buildout for a well-known church. You would be surprised at the amount of fields on the “church member management” page. Large text fields for input on “what did this person say about the church that was negative?” Investigation and credibility tracking… I was shocked.
- cjmcqueen 3y ago
  The LDS Church doesn't have a record keeping tool like this and it is intentional. We believe in repentance and records like that can often get in the way of the repentance process
cjmcqueen 3y ago
No it's not. The church owns a lot of property and has many high profile leaders. Church security does not do anything close to police work on/for parishioners.

slv77 3y ago

They have a large number of volunteers either proselytizing or serving in various countries. Security help ensure that the areas they serve in are reasonably safe. For example, moving out people in advance of the war in Ukraine [1]. These are similar to the teams or consultants that travel manage risks for large, global conglomerates. In addition any high profile event or personality is a potential target and requires people who can help manage the risks. 1 -https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/missionaries-ukraine https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/missionarie...