KANSAS CITY (MO)
WDAF Fox 4
March 7, 2019
By Kera Mashek and Tanya Anderson
Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests gathered outside the Kansas City Police Department downtown on Thursday morning to protest against a KCPD chaplain.
Protesters alleged the chaplain sexually abused young girls at a church where he was a pastor. The protesters held signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference and demanded that the police department carefully vet future candidates for positions. FOX4 spoke with the chaplain in question.
“Hopefully we can put this behind us and I can continue to serve,” said Reverend Stanley Archie.
The pastor, therapist and police chaplain is defending himself as decade-old allegations of sexual misconduct led to the new calls for his removal.
Rev. Archie leads an inner-city Baptist church and has worked alongside Kansas City police officers as a chaplain the past 10 years.
The SNAP activists hope to see the reverend removed from two public posts.
“Essentially having Stan Archie as a police chaplain is going to deter victims of rape or sexual misconduct from picking up the phone or calling 911 and ultimately that makes everyone less safe,” said David Clohessy, St. Louis volunteer for SNAP.
During FOX4’s “Working for Blue” campaign, we introduced you to KCPD chaplains, including Rev. Archie.
As the department acknowledges, chaplains are unpaid volunteers, who work alongside officers to provide moral and spiritual support, and don’t participate in investigations.
Still, KCPD spokesperson Jake Becchina said, “the Kansas City Missouri Police Department takes accusations of this nature very seriously. We are now reviewing the matter and investigating internally. This chaplain has been part of KCPD’s program for approximately 10 years.”
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