FREEDOM 21 DAY 14

DAY 14 – Law ENforcement

 

Today we will focus our prayers and repentance on law enforcement professionals and the huge challenges they face.

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. –Hebrews 13:17

On any given day, law enforcement professionals in the US and Mexico face a huge range of challenges including:

• Potentially dangerous situations as they protect and serve their communities.
• Ideological extremists willing to use violence as means to achieve their end.
• Daily exposure to human indecency and pain.
• A suspicious and sometimes hostile public.
• General lack of funding and resources to carry out the expectations placed upon them.

ADDING THE ISSUE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The rampant rise of human trafficking has resulted in its own set of additional challenges. Personnel lack training for identifying victims and techniques for investigating traffickers. There is a lack of standardized guidelines for handling cases and emergency protocol for dealing with rescued victims.

Strong laws do exist in many of our cities, states, and nations, but there is often a gap between the laws on the books and the ability of law enforcement agencies to use these laws to build strong cases.

Law enforcement agencies cannot be expected to shoulder the burden this fight alone. They need the support and partnership of average citizens in prayer and action.

To read the full USRPN article on this issue, please click here.

PERSONAL REPENTANCE

Father, I repent if there have been times I have spoken or thought negatively of the law enforcement profession. Forgive me for taking for granted the risks they face daily to protect my community.

CORPORATE REPENTANCE

God, forgive Your Church for not lifting up our law enforcement professionals in prayer with more frequency. Forgive us for not seeing them as partners in our visions for our communities. Forgive us for leaving them to carry the burden of lawlessness alone and not speaking up when we see or suspect criminal activity taking place.

INTERCESSION

• Father, release strategy and wisdom for protocol in how to handle victims when rescued and how to prosecute those who enslave them. We pray that law enforcement and Christian organizations would work together effectively to provide immediate and long-term assistance for those rescued.
   
• God, help local, state, and federal levels of law enforcement improve interagency coordination and communication. Bring about collaboration and information sharing between the governmental agencies of Mexico and the USA, resulting in more arrests and convictions of leaders of sex trafficking organizations.
   
• We pray for successful media campaigns which will educate the public and professionals in how to identify sex trafficking victims and how to report suspicious activity to the police.
   
• Grant police agencies adequate training, resources, and manpower to successfully investigate sex trafficking crimes, rescue victims, make arrests, and build cases against perpetrators.
   
• Protect our law enforcement officers and their families from harm. Encourage them, and let them know that there are thousands of Christians praying for their safety and success.

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact the non-emergency number of your local police department and find out the procedure for reporting suspicious activity. Then be alert in your community.

2. If you know of or suspect trafficking, you can report it here through Polaris Project, who will in turn feed the information to appropriate law enforcement agencies.