Better a priest than a trigger happy, power tripping moron with a badge.
Sounds like this is just a relabeled guidance counselor position.
Seems like this approach might run into separation of church and state issues as well.
This is going to run into a lot of flak from communities that don’t have common ethics or morality standards with the priest that takes up the position.
Edit: From everyone’s reactions, I think my definition of “priest” may be a bit looser than is common. My definition of priest is any spiritual leader, from the Catholic priests everyone seems to be hating on to Buddhist monks.
And for the record, I would rather trust Hannibal Lecter with the care of my children than leave them alone within potential line of sight of any cop I don’t know personally. Ya’ll distrust Catholics, I distrust police.