Church security seminar set for Monday night

Published 8:46 am Saturday, January 20, 2018

A free seminar Monday night will offer church leaders and others ways to hopefully prevent another church shooting.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Clark County Attorney’s Office are sponsoring “Protecting the Flock,” a church security conference presented by Sheepdog Seminars.

Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. said he and Deputy Steve Morris have been planning on hosting this seminar for about a year, well before last year’s shooting at a Texas church left 26 people dead.

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Perdue said Morris has been attending other seminars to be able to offer security assessments locally after Monday night.

“It’s something some of the churches asked about,” Perdue said. “Unfortunately, it’s the time we live in, even for church events and services.”

The conference will be led by Jimmy Meeks, a minister for 44 years and a police officer for 35 years.

“Jimmy is an expert at this,” Perdue said. “He’s a very motivational speaker. He’s very good.”

Perdue said the conference should last about three hours and cover a number of topics and issues within church security.

Clark County Attorney Brian Thomas will be on hand to answer legal questions, should they arise.

“This is not an active shooter class,” Perdue said. “A lot of it is security for buildings and programs and protocols to put in place to prevent incidents like Texas.

“It doesn’t matter what size the church is or what size the town is. It can happen anywhere,” he said.

The conference will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Church of the Living God, 114 Franklin Ave. The event is free and open to everyone, he said.

“We’d rather have our churches prepared than surprised,” Perdue said.

For more information, call 859-621-3054.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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