Bibles offer words of wisdom for NSW cops

SYDNEY - Police officers in New South Wales are to receive their own specially designed Bible - offering spiritual guidance to a force with an unhappy history of misconduct and corruption.

The new Bible has a dark-blue cover, matching the police uniform, and is compact enough to be carried on the job. As well as the Old and New Testaments, it contains the police prayer and readings on ethics, service, integrity, leadership, grief, sin and forgiveness.

It was created by the Bible Society of NSW, which has printed 2400 copies, currently being distributed among the force's 107 chaplains.

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, a committed Christian, recently received his copy. He told the Christian Today website: "I believe the police Bible will impact on generations of police officers to come."

Cynics have suggested the police Bible, which features the force's crest on its leather-look jacket and photographs of officers on the beat inside, is long overdue. A royal commission in the 1990s uncovered systemic and entrenched corruption within the New South Wales force.

Its findings led to the appointment of a new Commissioner - Peter Ryan, from Britain - and the establishment of an independent watchdog, the Police Integrity Commission.

The good book for the men and women in blue was the idea of a senior police chaplain, Russel Avery, who had previously worked with the Australian Air Force.

He had noted the popularity of the Defence Force Bible, and wanted law enforcement officers to have a similar option available to them.

Scipione said all officers who graduated from the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn would be offered a copy.

"I would like to think an officer who receives one of these special police Bibles will one day sit in my seat."