Wes Anderson is not a police officer.
He doesn’t go around town arresting people.
Nor does he carry a gun and a baton.
While his job isn’t about responding to crime, Anderson’s role with the Chula Vista Police Department is probably a vital one to police officers.
His volunteer work as a chaplin gives healing and spiritual guidance to Chula Vista officers who have dealt with traumatic situations while on the job.
Anderson, 51, was a pastor at Calvary Chapel for 16 years before he left to focus on his work with law enforcement.
“During that time (at Calvary Chapel) I saw police officers, law enforcement that had a lot of trauma and drama due to their exposure to deaths, dying and critical incidents,” he said.
Anderson is also a part-time pastor at Eastlake Church.
Through his nonprofit foundation Code 7, he supports law enforcement in the workplace.
Code 7 is the name of Anderson’s nonprofit but it is also police code for lunch break.
“They don’t get it (a lunch break) too often,” Anderson said.
“I found that if they can take that break, our best conversations can happen during that Code 7.”
One day Anderson went on a ride-a-long with an officer. Anderson had to wear a bulletproof vest and his chaplin outfit.
He said the vest and outfit made him extremely hot and he wondered how officers can do their job with the extra equipment on as it made them hot.
So Anderson came up with an idea to provide about six or seven cases of water every day for the officers.
Recently he purchased a refrigerator that holds 14 cases of water for the officers.
That refrigerator gets filled up on a daily basis.
“I’ve realized that (water) is a tangible, practical need the officers have,” he said.
Code 7, through sponsorships, also gives away gift cards for local restaurants that officers can enjoy with their families on their days off.
“I’ll send an officer out with their significant other to go out on a date night on Code 7,” he said.
Anderson said he supports family bonding because the stresses of law enforcement can tear a family apart.
“There is a 75 percent divorce rate in law enforcement. It’s all the stress they endure, it’s the shifts they work,” he said.
Not to mention all the trauma and drama that surround officers at work, Anderson said.
Through his work as a Chaplin and with Code 7, Anderson also provides spiritual healing for officers who ask for it.
Though he has not made personal use of the chplain’s service, Chula Vista Police Capt. Lon Turner said Code 7 has made a difference in the lives of officers.
“It’s a great opportunity for some element of spiritual healing that may need to take place during some critical incidents that happened,” he said.
“He is one of those go-to people that when a crises hits, he’s there and around to help out, Turner said.
“I know officers have used him when they sought some solace after some critical events that have happened,” Turner said.
“And when there is a time of need he’s somebody that’s there and he has some additional resources that I know he’s provided to officers at the point of crises.”
