Starting a Chaplain Program – Utah Law Enforcement Chaplain Foundation

A practical path for a Utah police department or sheriff’s office that wants to add chaplains. The steps follow guidance from the International Conference of Police Chaplains and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, adapted to Utah law. This page gives general information about Utah law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice. Agencies should review their program with their own legal counsel. The page is constructed using Claude and could have errors.

Ten steps

1. Define what you want the program to do

Talk with command staff, officers, dispatchers, and their families about what support they need. Common goals include officer wellness, death notifications, critical-incident response, and ceremonies. ICPC’s first step is to define and explore goals before recruiting anyone.

2. Name a liaison or coordinator

Pick a sworn officer or staff member to own the program: keeping the call-out roster, tracking hours, scheduling meetings, and running an annual review. ICPC offers a Liaison credential for this role, which includes four Liaison courses along with Basic coursework (ICPC credentials).

3. Write a policy

Many Utah agencies, including West Jordan, use Lexipol policy manuals, which include a standard Chaplains policy (example of the Lexipol text). The IACP’s police chaplains guidance is another strong starting point. A good policy covers:

Eligibility, selection, background check, and a probationary period
Duties, call-outs, and ride-along rules
Identification and clothing that mark chaplains as non-sworn
No proselytizing, and service to people of all faiths
Confidentiality and its limits, including mandatory reporting
Training requirements and annual evaluation

4. Set qualifications

Utah law does not require chaplains to be ordained, so this is your agency’s decision. The Unified Police Department requires licensed or ordained clergy. The Weber County Sheriff’s Office asks for five years of counseling experience. Most programs look for maturity, good standing in a faith community, ministry or counseling experience, and a clean background.

5. Recruit, screen, and appoint

Use an application, interviews with the chief or sheriff and the coordinator, and a background investigation. Under Utah’s Volunteer Government Workers Act, a volunteer may serve only after the agency head or an authorized representative approves their service (Utah Code 67-20-4).

6. Train

Give every chaplain a department orientation and ride-alongs before they respond on their own. Build toward the ICPC Basic curriculum, which covers law enforcement chaplaincy, legal aspects, the law enforcement family, stress, call-outs, suicide, agency incidents, death notification, and self-care (ICPC credentials; courses are also offered online). If you want chaplains’ conversations protected by Utah’s peer support privilege, create a peer support team with written guidelines, have chaplains complete a POST-approved peer support training program, and formally designate them as team members. The privilege covers only individual peer support conversations held under those guidelines (Utah Code 78B-5-902 and 78B-5-903).

7. Equip and identify

Provide an agency ID card and clothing marked “Chaplain” that does not look like a sworn officer’s uniform. Under Utah law, a volunteer can receive agency-approved uniforms, identification, and safety equipment used only while volunteering, plus reimbursement for related training, without losing volunteer status (Utah Code 67-20-2).

8. Know the legal framework

Volunteer protections: approved volunteers receive workers’ compensation medical benefits only, which are their exclusive remedy for injuries on duty, plus the liability protection and indemnification of a paid government employee (Utah Code 67-20-3).
Confidentiality: clergy privilege (Rule of Evidence 503) and the peer support privilege (Utah Code 78B-5-903) each have limits.
Mandatory reporting: chaplains must report suspected child abuse or neglect. The only clergy exception is narrow: it covers a confession made directly by the perpetrator to a clergy member acting in a ministerial capacity whose faith requires keeping it confidential, and even then the clergy member may report abuse believed to be ongoing (Utah Code 80-2-602).
Death notifications: no Utah statute says who notifies families of a death, so write the chaplain’s role into your policy. West Jordan’s policy manual, for example, lets a supervisor coordinate family notification after a fatal traffic collision with the medical examiner, the department chaplain, or another suitable person, and lets the chaplain serve on the team that notifies the survivors of a department member who dies (West Jordan PD policy manual).

9. Launch

Introduce chaplains at briefings and roll calls so officers know them before a crisis. Set an on-call rotation, publish how dispatch reaches the on-call chaplain, and begin ride-alongs. Set clear expectations for monthly hours and on-call availability, as the IACP recommends.

10. Sustain and connect

Hold regular chaplain meetings, review the program each year, and look after chaplains’ own well-being. Join ICPC (full membership is $150 a year). Utah is in ICPC Region 6, and ICPC lists Phil Wasden, a longtime Lehi police and fire chaplain, as its Utah area representative (ICPC Region 6; Lehi Free Press). And let us know about your program so we can add your chaplains to the directory and connect them with others.

Fitting chaplains into your wellness program

Utah requires every first responder agency to provide or make available mental health resources to its responders and their families, and to name a mental health resources liaison (Utah Code 53-21-102). Chaplains complement those resources. The Utah Department of Public Safety offers first responder mental health grants while state funds last (the grant law is scheduled to end July 1, 2027) and other mental health resources. Starting July 1, 2026, a small first responder agency (for example, one with 10 or fewer employees or one staffed mainly by volunteers) may choose to contribute $25 per first responder each year to a state account. In return, the Department of Public Safety may, at its discretion and while funds last, provide mental health resources such as critical-incident assessments within 48 hours (Utah Code 53-21-105 and 53-21-104.1).

We can help

The foundation can connect your agency with experienced Utah chaplains and help new chaplains find training. Contact us.

Last reviewed October 24, 2026.