{"id":92866,"date":"2021-10-28T15:39:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T19:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=92866"},"modified":"2021-10-28T15:41:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T19:41:42","slug":"now-police-chiefs-cant-even-use-their-free-time-to-express-their-faith-at-a-religious-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=92866","title":{"rendered":"Now police chiefs can’t even use their free time to express their faith at a religious events—WOW!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Major Lawrence Revell works in TPD’s Criminal Investigative division; he’s been at the department since 1992. (Image via TPD)(WCTV)<\/p><\/div>\n

By WCTV Staff<\/p>\n

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) \u2013 A coalition of activist groups is calling on the city to denounce and demote Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell after he spoke at a religious retreat in September.<\/p>\n

Revell took part in a law enforcement conference last month at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

The activists call the BGEA \u201cone of the nation\u2019s most notorious anti-LGBTQ+ Christian right groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChief Revell\u2019s public leadership as Chief of Police at such an event furthers an atmosphere of discrimination, intimidation and harassment against the LGBTQIA+ and non-Christian population in Tallahassee,\u201d according to the groups.<\/p>\n

The coalition is also questioning whether Revell improperly espouses his religious beliefs on the job, after his speech encouraged law enforcement leaders to talk to officers about their faith. \u201cWhat is your agenda for presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to your officers?\u201d Revell said.<\/p>\n

The activists plan to hold a news conference Thursday at city hall, calling on the mayor and city commissioners to denounce Revell\u2019s actions, and asking that he be removed as police chief. Groups involved include the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Florida Coalition for Transgender Liberation, Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society, Tallahassee National Organization for Women, Florida Council of Churches, Planned Parenthood, Gender Odyssey at FSU, and Islamic Center of Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

Revell says he appeared at the conference on his own time, and he is entitled to his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was off duty when I went and did that,\u201d Revell told WCTV. \u201cI am more than willing to have conversations with anybody about my record as police chief, about how I performed as police chief. I have my personal beliefs. I\u2019m entitled to those just like anybody else is entitled to their beliefs, and what I do off duty is just that. It\u2019s what I do off duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revell dismissed ethical concerns about the appearance. He says attending the conference did not have to be cleared with city leadership because he did it on his own time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more than willing to talk about on duty, my record, and I stand by that. The Tallahassee Police Department has a very long history of not only hiring, but supporting and promoting, including myself, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and I stand by that,\u201d Revell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real concern, I would hope, would be any differential treatment of members of the community or members of my department and I can assure you that never happens and that never will happen,\u201d Revell told WCTV.<\/p>\n

Speakers expected at the Thursday news conference include Reverend Tom Holdcroft with the Florida Council of Churches and Barbara DeVane with the Tallahassee National Organization for Women.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2021 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n

___
\nhttps:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2021\/10\/27\/activists-denounce-tallahassee-police-chiefs-speech-religious-retreat\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}