Central Baptist Church opens police substation

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Central Baptist Church has partnered with their local police department in a unique way: by opening up a police substation in their downtown campus.

The downtown substation, which was inaugurated on Dec. 18, is the only one in that section of Sanford.

We planted a church in Downtown Sanford and were given the building by First Baptist Church Sanford,” said Central Baptist pastor Alan Brumback. “So then we thought, ‘how can we use this property to bless the community?”

Sanford Chief of Police, Cecil Smith, accepts gift from Central Baptist Downtown campus pastor, Mel Himes.

One way the Central Church family is doing that is by having a good relationship with their police department. To that end, they decided to provide the Sanford police officers with a place to rest and catch up on work.

“I contacted the Chief of Police and asked him if officers had a substation downtown and he told me no,” said Brumback.

Sanford has over 60 thousand residents and, according to Brumback, the downtown area is one of the most crime-ridden sections of the city.

Neighbors of the Central Baptist downtown campus were so happy about the substation opening up that one woman offered to donate Keurig coffee pods for an entire year if the church followed through with the plan.

“This is an outpost of security in the community and the church,” said the pastor.

The substation, he added, is also a tool to minister to the officers.

The 400 sq. ft. room will be stocked with snacks, coffee, a toaster oven, microwave, maps of the city and will include an office area for catching up on paper work. The area will also be secured with a coded keypad that only the officers and select church staff will have access to.

“We hope the community will see this as the church caring for them as well,” said Brumback.

By Keila Diaz, Florida Baptist Convention, December 19, 2017

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