NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New York City detective has made it his mission to reach out to every religious leader in the five boroughs.

As CBS2's Andrea Grymes reports, you may say walking this beat comes naturally for Det. Mohamed Amen. The practicing Muslim – with a fitting last name -- is the NYPD's Clergy Outreach Unit detective.

"We have close to 8,000 houses of worship throughout the city and we get to build relations and work with every and each one of them," he told Grymes.

His job is right in his title – constant outreach to the city's vast religious communities.

"To improve public safety, community relation and quality of life," he explained.

Amen's life has taken him down several different roads. Born in Egypt, he worked as a lawyer there and immigrated to the United States in 1996.

Typical immigrant, as a salesman, as a doorman, as an interpreter. Then, went back to school," he said.

He joined the NYPD in 2007 and started this job about three years ago.

There are about 280 civilians across the city who are clergy liaisons with the NYPD. Amen's job takes a special mix of accessibility and sincerity.

"It's a learning experience, and you get to deal with everyone with an open mind and, as I mentioned, we have so much in common," he said.

Everyone from Hindus and Buddhists, to Sikhs and Orthodox Jews.

"NYPD's very good. They always here for us if we need anything, for good things or for bad things," said Brooklyn rabbi Chesky Blau.

On Friday, Amen had several meetings across the city, including one with Father Brian McWeeney of the Archdiocese of New York.

"In this day and age where there seems to be a great deal of divisiveness in our society, it's important that religions show the way to dialogue," he said.

That dialogue can truly pay off.

Amen says his relationship with the city's Muslim community helped ease tensions when an imam and his associate were murdered in Ozone Park, Queens in 2016. It's just one of the benefits of having a detective solely dedicated to religion.

"When you build the trust with people, you make them feel that this is their place. They need to protect their place," he said.

His work not only fosters better relations with the police, but also among the denominations with each other.

The job might be a higher calling for this detective, who's also a married father of three.