Chaplain Travis Maclay of the Riverside Police Department (CA) is a current doctoral student pursuing a PhD in Leadership.

We’ll let Chaplain Travis Maclay take it from here:

I am narrowing the focus of my dissertation topic and am leaning toward a qualitative research analysis on the long-term wellness benefits of a law enforcement agency’s adoption of a chaplain program.

Therefore, maybe the best thing for now is to introduce the bigger research project (see below) and seek any feedback regarding the project as it is being formed.

Specifically, two things would be helpful:

1) Any research studies or key articles that reflect a positive benefit from a chaplaincy program

2) Any feedback, questions or parameters that they feel would be important in conducting the qualitative research to ensure that the results of the research are most effective.

My hope and prayer is that this research could be helpful in the establishment of many new chaplain programs around the country in the years to come.

Please respond in the Comment section below.

Chaplain Travis Maclay can also be reached at travismaclay@gmail.com

Chaplain Travis Maclay’s message to the Police Chaplain Coffee Shop Facebook Group, explaining his project:

Good morning from California!

I have had the great benefit of lurking on this forum for a few months and gleaning from the wisdom of many. By way of very brief introduction, I have been a volunteer chaplain with the Riverside Police Department for about six months.

Prior to moving to CA a little over two years ago, I lived in Austin and served as a chaplain with the Austin Police Department for a little over five years. In addition to my full-time job, the roles I play as a husband and father, serving our church, and serving as a volunteer LE chaplain, I also am a student working toward my PhD in leadership.

There is very little spare time these days, and sleep is secondary most days of the week, but I am really enjoying the learning & the discipline that comes from such a rigorous schedule. The primary purpose for my post is to seek feedback from the members of this group.

I have determined that if I am going to successfully spend the next two years doing significant research on a topic, it had better be something that motivates me if I am going to remain engaged in the research. To that end, I believe my research is going to be focused on law enforcement chaplaincy.

More specifically, I am interested in doing a qualitative analysis of the long-term benefits of the adoption of a chaplaincy program by a law enforcement agency. While my focus will be nationwide (US), it will be limited to the US only for this project. I anticipate interviewing 30-45 participants for my research. These interviews will range from LE chaplains to sworn officers to non-sworn personnel and upper administration.

I think I am going to structure the writing as a comparison between departments who do not have a chaplain program, those who have had one for less than 10 years, and those who have had established programs for greater than 10 years. My hope and prayer is that my finished work might serve as a catalyst to compel the leadership of a LE agency to consider the wellness benefits to their officers by implementing a chaplain program.

My two questions for the group ....

1) I would love any feedback you might offer at this point in the process. Any revelatory ideas that come to mind regarding this research project?

2) I am going to rely heavily on research that has already been done in this arena. While I certainly am doing my research homework, I would welcome anything of which you're aware or that you've read that you believe might be of relevance, importance or interest in this area.

If you have interest in keeping up to date on my research or possibly participating as an interviewee, let me know in the comments. I certainly do not plan to hijack this group going forward with frequent posts, but I am happy to keep anyone interested in the loop. You can also reach me by email at travismaclay at gmail dot com.

My many thanks in advance for any interest and feedback. Also, just a heads up, I do plan to cross-post this in a few different Facebook groups dealing with chaplaincy, so my apologies in advance if you are members of those groups and see it multiple times in your feed. Blessings to each of you!