Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Announcing Upcoming Faith and Blue Weekend in Oconee County
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office along with other national law enforcement groups, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and MovementForward, Inc.’s One Congregation One Precinct (OneCOP) initiative are jointly organizing the most consolidated police-community engagement project in recent history – National Faith and Blue Weekend (NFBW) with FirstNet, Built with AT&T as its presenting sponsor. The mission of NFBW is to facilitate safer, stronger and more unified communities by connecting law enforcement officers and residents through local houses of worship.
National Faith and Blue Weekend is scheduled to take place from Friday, October 9th thru Monday, October 12th. For the local recognition of Faith and Blue Weekend in Oconee County, law enforcement has an event scheduled for Sunday afternoon, October 11th from 4pm until 5pm at Seneca High School.
“Our vision statement at the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is “Building Partnerships to Promote a Safer Community. I feel that we have a good relationship with our citizens here in Oconee County and that obviously includes our faith community,” says Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw. “National Faith and Blue Weekend gives us an opportunity to continue to connect with those in our faith-based community here in Oconee County as well as all of our citizens. The event being planned at Seneca High School reflects careful consideration of both public safety and officer safety with the current COVID-19 pandemic ongoing while also giving law enforcement a chance to further build relationships with our citizens.”
As part of National Faith and Blue weekend, churches and houses of worship in Oconee County are being asked during the second weekend in October to take time to pray during their worship services for Oconee County citizens, law enforcement, the cities in Oconee County, the county itself and Oconee County communities.
If there are some churches or houses of worship in the county that may not have a law enforcement officer as part of their local congregation and they would like a deputy to come and speak for a few minutes to their congregation, those churches and houses of worship are asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 864-638-4117 and arrangements will be made to fulfill as many of those requests as possible.
On Sunday afternoon, October 11th, some of the law enforcement officers from all agencies who serve in Oconee County will be located in the main student parking lot at Seneca High School on Wells Highway from 4pm until 5pm. Any citizen is welcome to drive-thru at that time to show their support and appreciation for law enforcement in Oconee County.
“We are also grateful for David Shirley and the staff of the Beaverdam Baptist Association for their willingness to accept gift cards to restaurants to be distributed to law enforcement officers in the county,” says Sheriff Crenshaw. “Any church or citizens who would like to drop off restaurant gift cards can do so at the Beaverdam Baptist Association officers located at 215 N. Townville Street during normal business hours. There is a $25 limit on the gift cards; however, monetary donations are being accepted for the purchase of gift cards as well.”
National Faith and Blue Weekend is an unprecedented national law enforcement-community engagement project involving nearly every major national law enforcement group in the United States of America along with the three entities in the federal government that deal most directly with policing. On April 27, 2020, Reverend Markel Hutchins, National Lead Organizer, One Congregation One Precinct initiative (OneCOP) and President & CEO, MovementForward, Inc. and the heads of each of the following organizations participated in the initial meeting:
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, United States Department of Justice
• Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice
• Bureau of Justice Assistance, United States Department of Justice
• Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
• Fraternal Order of Police
• Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association
• International Association of Chiefs of Police
• International Brotherhood of Police Officers
• International Conference of Police Chaplains
• Major County Sheriffs of America
• National Asian Peace Officers Association
• National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys
• National Association of Police Organizations
• National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives
• National Black Police Association
• National District Attorney’s Association
• National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund
• National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
• National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition
• National Police Foundation
• National Sheriffs’ Association
• Police Executive Research Forum
Initial meeting participants had no idea that the unfortunate death of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly three weeks later would accelerate and reiterate the need for this so sorely needed change effort.
For more information about National Faith and Blue Weekend, visit www.faithandblue.org.
ABOUT FIRSTNET BUILT WITH AT&T
FirstNet is built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the FirstNet Authority – an independent federal government agency. We continue to deliver on the vision of the first responder community and Congress. With dedicated, advanced services built to mission-critical standards interoperating across agencies and jurisdictions, custom apps and devices built for law enforcement, fire and EMS, it’s clear FirstNet stands above commercial offerings. And more than 12,000 public safety agencies and organizations – accounting for over 1.3 million connections – would agree.
FirstNet® and the FirstNet logo are registered trademarks and service marks of the First Responder Network Authority. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.