Police officers say they find strength for the job in their faith
In an interview with the Catholic Voice, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., Omaha Police Sgt. Nicolas Yanez describes how he pulled over to pray as he was driving to the autopsy of an 8-month-old girl killed by her mother's boyfriend.
"I didn't think I would make it," Yanez tells the Voice's news editor Joe Ruff about feeling sad and overwhelmed. "Being the father of two daughters myself, it was difficult. I really had to pray: ‘Why am I being put in this position?' I decided God wanted me to do this job, and he would give me strength."
"That kind of prayer sustains Yanez, a member of St. Mary Parish in Bellevue, and countless other police officers - Catholics and those of other faiths - in squad rooms in Nebraska's largest city, across the archdiocese and around the country," writes Ruff.
Besides a number of interviews with police serving in the city and in rural areas, Ruff also talks to police chaplains and includes a feature on St. Michael the Archangel, patron of police officers and warriors
