“We just want to say thank you for all the wonderful work you do to protect the community like providing security, maintaining law and order and ensuring safety”, were the words of Bishop Kofi Adonteng-Boateng of Divine Word International Ministries (DWIM), Virginia, USA.

He spoke in his capacity as an International Police Chaplain in the United States (US) during his visit to the Franconia County District Police (FCDP) on October 20, 2017.

Bishop Adonteng-Boateng who was accompanied by members of his church; Divine Word International Ministries (DWIM), said the visit was to express appreciation for the exemplary work the police was doing in the community.

He was met by Captain Michael F. Grinnan; Commander of the Franconia District Police Station.

The late Friday morning visit by the Bishop was a successful one during which the Bishop flashed back to a September 2016 and 2017 visits respectively to his church by some members of the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD): “your visits to our church is very much appreciated, so is your work in the community” said the Bishop, who felt this visit was his own small way of making the police know they are appreciated.

In an interview with TheAfricanDream.net, the Bishop said “during the FCPD visit to our church, a majority of the members who are Africans and from Ghana saw them in a very friendly light. Their education, interaction and especially dancing at our church has gone viral online, (video here https://bit.ly/2ioo42y), making people in the community wonder where such cool and friendly cops come from.”

“Yeah I saw that video myself too” said Commander Grinnan, saying the reason his officers felt okay mingling with the DWIM congregation is because “it’s the way we train our officers, we train them to be interactive, we try to build good relationships between communities and that’s what we are supposed to do.”



Commander Grinnan, however, said he couldn’t take credit for everything, saying 2nd Lieutenant Tim Forrest who led the team to DWIM last September, his colleagues who accompanied him, and the entire FCPD are responsible for such professionalism and deserve credit too.

Master Police Officer Allie Eggers said “when we do come out and we do fellowship with you, we are there to embrace you guys, your community, and your culture. We do feel blessed to see people smiling… and for me, it is a good positive experience that I will never forget.”

DWIM members at the end of the visit were led by the Bishop to pray for the police officers. Afterwards, the Bishop promised the strengthening of his church’s relationship with the FCPD by suggesting the church and police participate in the distribution of items to the needy, come Christmas 2017.