“Look both ways when you cross the street” was hardly the most revolutionary advice your mother gave you. But, if you think about it, it’s kept you alive up to this point.
Along the same lines, security professionals are urging employees at Jewish institutions to use common sense to stave off a potential attack like the shooting rampage in Seattle on Friday, July 28 that left one woman dead and five wounded.
“All the institutions in the community are pretty well put together from a security standpoint, and we’re encouraging them to stay in touch with law enforcement, report suspicious incidents in a timely manner and use common sense,” said Allan Lavigne, the Bay Area director of security for the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council.
“With 24-hour news, now you know what we in security and law enforcement have known all along: The world is not a safe place. But [a Seattle-like incident] could have happened at any workplace, not just a Jewish institution. There were 43 instances of workplace shootings last year alone” in the United States.
News of the Seattle shooting — an apparent act of Jew-hatred by a disgruntled young Muslim man — reached Bay Area Jewish leaders with alarming speed (members of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley were meeting with local law enforcement within an hour of the Seattle rampage). And while local Jewish institutions have all reassessed or tightened security, no one has adopted a siege mentality yet.
“The first thing I want to say is, we are not panicking,” said Michal Kohane, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region.
“I’ve talked to our local sheriff and we’ve heightened security a little bit.”
Like other area federation heads, Kohane will be contacting local synagogues and schools and attempting to shore up security well in advance of the High Holy Days. Lavigne is also organizing a powwow with police regarding High Holy Days, and doing so far earlier in the year than normal; in the wake of the Seattle shootings he figures this is the time police will be most attentive.
“I think people are horrified anytime something like this happens; [people feel like] there’s trouble in Israel but we’re safe here,” added Kohane.
“I don’t share that illusion. I grew up in Israel and you have to have your eyes open wherever you are.”
Other federation directors, without revealing specifics, told j. they were adding security guards, locking doors that had previously been left open, holding meetings with employees to go over security procedures and reaching out to local police.
Because of the carnage in the Pacific Northwest, relatively minor incidents have taken on a foreboding new gravitas. Jonathan Bernstein, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, noted that an anonymous caller recently phoned a San Francisco Jewish institution and shouted “jihad” into the phone. Anita Friedman, executive director of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services, said a man, who possibly was deranged, attempted to force open a locked door in the JFCS’ Sunset District office while shouting Hitlerian insults. JFCS staff phoned police and the man was taken into custody.
“We’ve had dozens of [similar incidents] throughout the years and it always appears to be some kind of mentally ill individuals,” said Freidman.
“But these mentally ill individuals who are full of hate and anger can be very deadly … we have an ongoing program of security training with our staff and have really sent a message to all or our staff to increase security. No one is allowed in any of our buildings without stating who they are and what their purpose is. We’re tightening security throughout the whole organization.”
The battening of security hatches in the Bay Area was mirrored throughout the nation. Following the Seattle attack, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations’ Secure Community Network fired off a security bulletin to hundreds of Jewish organizations. The network’s national director, Paul Goldenberg, said he has contacted the heads of all 155 Jewish federations in the nation.
“I can assure you that this is not an overreaction,” he said. “Almost every time there’s an escalation in the Middle East there are attacks against Jewish communities in the United States and Europe.”
Locally, the ADL and JCRC have organized a pair of security conferences scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 10. Jewish institution heads are invited to an event featuring speakers from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and local police departments as well as the ADL’s national director of security.
For more information contact Sarah Peabody at (415) 981-3500 ext. 240.