Two ex-chaplains for the Pittsburgh police will have to find greener pastures for their curbside ministry.

Lara Zinda, who served as the Police Bureau's chief chaplain for 10 months, and fellow volunteer Keith Smith were dismissed last week by police Chief Nate Harper after their religious credentials were questioned.

As chaplains, Ms. Zinda and Mr. Smith were allowed to step over the yellow tape at crime scenes to counsel the bereaved. They also were authorized to reach out to police officers dealing with the emotional fallout from surviving a shooting or taking a suspect's life.

As far as their colleagues on the force were concerned, "Reverends" Zinda and Smith were the real deal. It took local pastors making their own inquiries to reveal the holy truth.

Mr. Smith claimed to be with the Methodist Church in America. The denomination sounds familiar enough, but a representative of the regional conference of the United Methodist Church said he had never heard of it. Mr. Smith said in 2003 that he was senior pastor of a church in Crafton; it had only five members. Ms. Zinda and Mr. Smith were listed as directors on the Web site of an online college based in Virginia.

The pair were able to pass off their dubious credentials as real because, as Chief Nate Harper put it, he wasn't familiar with "all the ins and outs of the ministry world." That's inexcusable.

Someone in the Police Bureau should have vetted the ministers, even though they were volunteers. It should not have taken Pittsburgh clergy to ask the right questions. One day everyone involved will have to answer to a higher authority.