Police Fight Murder Rate with Unconventional Weapon

In El Salvador violence is on the rise with more than 2,800 murders through September, an increase of more than 60 percent from last year.

Yet police suit up and go to work every day in the most violent neighborhoods to protect the people.

A few of them have succeeded in bringing change by using an unconventional weapon -- prayer.

Police officers in El Salvador are fighting crime in a country with the fourth highest murder rate in the world.

But now, a group of police is promoting a better way to handle the problem, a method that doesn't rely on physical weapons.

They're members of the Christian Police Ministry committed to evangelizing the city's most dangerous streets and neighborhoods.

"We have seen the hand of God working for the benefit of the citizens. Every day we look for ways to pray for this nation, for this city," Gerson Sion, with Christian Police Ministry, said. "That's why we also go out into the streets to seek the Lord and to evangelize."

"And here is a people who worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth," he added.

Former police, prostitutes, and gang members have experienced transformed lives as they have turned to God.

"We have even had gang leaders converted to the Lord, who have then professed their faith inside their own gang, and now they carry out evangelism among their companions, among their own people," Milton Slaguero, Sonsonate delegation chief, said. "And that of course represents changes, changes in our communities."

The change in these communities is signigicant and the Christian police want to go even further to reach the hearts of people.

These police evangelists not only work to win souls on the streets of El Salvador, they also go to the prisons where many inmates have lost their faith.

Officers visit inmates of Metapan Prison every three months, bringing groceries and the word of God to give hope to those doing time behind bars. 

"They have a lot of needs. They have deep wounds in their hearts that only the Word of God can heal," Ricardo Platero, with Christian Police Ministry, said. "And many have recognized that God is the only one who can save them, can rescue them from the hole they're in."

These officers hope that many more will join their spiritual battle, strengthening Christian police groups around the country, and that one day peace will reign in the nation of El Salvador.