Randy Ehle, Sonora Police Department chaplain, reflects on his first months in position ‘First responder to first responders’
Randy Ehle, a Sonora Police Department chaplain, describes himself as a “first responder to the first responders.” “When an officer has a critical incident, I hope they have enough of a relationship with me where they can ask, ‘Can we go talk?’ “Ehle, 57, of Sonora, said.
Since joining the Sonora Police Department as a chaplain early this year, Ehle has gained a deeper understanding of his responsibility as not just a beacon of guidance to the officers, but also to the public they serve.
Ehle’s joined officers on four calls to provide comfort after death notifications, including for 20-year-old Sierra Landrum, of Sonora, who died a rollover vehicle accident; a suicide; a medical aid call when paramedics were anticipating a victim might not survive; and when someone passed away in a Sonora home.
He hasn’t yet provided a first death notification to family, but knows that in the future he will likely take that on as a key function of his role.
“You are stepping into people’s lives at the time of their greatest grief and loss,” he said. “It’s a profound honor to be allowed into that.”
The most striking dichotomy Ehle has seen so far are people who have a network of support, and the others who don’t.
“If I can be unnecessary, that is the best situation,” he said. “On the other side of the situation, when they don’t have that, it can be very hopeless. I can be, maybe, the only person that can express care and bring a little bit of hope.”
Police Chief Turu Vanderwiel said the chaplaincy was a longrunning program, since before he joined the department in 2004, which has gone through periods of dormancy or joint-cooperation with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office.
Vanderwiel said under the stewardship of Ehle and Chaplain Dennis Townsend, the chaplaincy program was considered officially re-established.
“It’s great to finally have a chaplain back in place here,” Vanderwiel said.
Ehle has lived in Sonora for three years and has been a pastor since 2009. He’s been the pastor at The Journey Church in East Sonora since 2018 and has an occupational background in the financial industry, the United States Air Force and the California Air National Guard.
The Journey Church traces its roots to the original Sonora Baptist churches founded in the late 1850s. Prior to moving to Sonora, Ehle was pastor of Cold Springs Church in Placerville, which has a similar American Baptist connection, he said.
Ehle was first motivated to become a chaplain from his mentor, who had chaplaincies
in multiple police departments throughout the San Diego area.
“It’s been a slow journey for that, something I’ve been interested in for a couple of years,” he said.
And it still took a few years after Ehle took the helm at The Journey Church in Sonora. In 2018, he said he had a conversation with Vanderwiel broaching the subject of a chaplaincy because the program at the time was not very active.
Ehle participated in a week-long training course in March 2020, the same week as the statewide COVID-19 shutdown. The course was the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy in Sacramento, and it is a 40hour post-certified course.
He took up the role officially in January of 2021.
Townsend, who took up his role in December 2020, was not available on Wednesday.
Ehle said Townsend had a background in law enforcement, but was retired, and that they planned to share the chaplaincy role based on the needs of the department.
Ehle is an unpaid volunteer and sets his own hours, though chaplaincy policy through the department sets a minimum of 10 hours a month.
Whether Ehle’s contacted to join on an assignment or visits on his own volition, he can take up a variety of roles.
“Chaplains enhance our department’s overall function through community involvement and other functions such as death notifications, line-of-duty burial service facilitation, crisis intervention, and department personnel wellbeing,” Vanderwiel said.
One role, Ehle said, is a ministry of presence, which he describes as a “proactive role” of building relationships with officers and the law enforcement community of administration and non-sworn personnel.
Sometimes, that just means stopping by the department for check-ins and conversations with anyone who’s there, Ehle said.
“You want to get to know them,” he said. “That forms the foundation of the other aspects of chaplaincy. It’s really about building trust. I’m an outsider to law enforcement.”
Ehle said the chaplaincy was considered a nonsectarian position, meaning it was meant to serve all people, of all faiths or no faiths. He said while living in San Diego, he taught Iraqi refugees as a substitute teacher and believes engaging people with differing views or beliefs would have a similar dynamic.
“The role of a chaplain wouldn’t exist if it were not for chaplains who could navigate that well,” he said.
The chaplaincy at the Sonora Police Department previously generated some controversy last year due to David Bush, a pastor at the Oak Hill Presbyterian Church, who volunteered in the position for many years.
Critics in the community called the church’s alliance with the Straight Pride Coalition homophobic or aligned with white evangelical nationalism, and Bush’s association with the department concerning.
Bush denied the allegations in an interview with the Union Democrat and said he never used the chaplaincy to proselytize his personal beliefs.
Vanderwiel said Bush was no longer involved as chaplain due to other commitments and did not leave due to his beliefs.
“I am committed to serving anybody within the realm of the law enforcement community, which is my primary target, and anybody they come into contact with as well,” Ehle said. “My role as a chaplain is to not push my identity on other people.”