The integrator community and security industry at large are confronted with the moral obligation and duty to raise their game in proactively reaching out to safeguard houses of worship (HOWs).
Today’s security technologies, tactics and services have armed providers with solutions to significantly harden those potential targets, preserving sanctity while saving lives and preventing profound grief. From a business standpoint, this market also offers enormous opportunity.
Many are aware of this, but we must do a better job of outreach, education and deployment because the need remains urgent and underserved.
As disturbingly demonstrated by March’s attack at Michigan’s Temple Israel, Jewish synagogues and other houses of worship across the United States face an intensifying security challenge. Antisemitic hate crimes have risen sharply in recent years, and HOWs are increasingly being targeted by individuals seeking to carry out acts of violence, intimidation or terrorism.
Security’s Role in Protecting Worshippers
The FBI’s 2024 Hate Crime Report documented 1,938 anti-Jewish crimes, the highest on record since the bureau began collecting this data in 1991. Beyond that, religion-based hate crimes also rose overall that same year.
In the violent Temple Israel attack, a man rammed a vehicle into the building and opened fire before being confronted by security personnel. The vehicle later caught fire inside the synagogue. More than 100 children were inside the facility’s preschool; fortunately, none were injured. The attack likely would have resulted in a mass-casualty event had trained security officers not intervened quickly.
My hope is this incident serves as a wake-up call for HOW stakeholders to prioritize the pressing need for comprehensive security planning and accept the reality that the time to strengthen security is before tragedy occurs.
It is incumbent upon our industry’s solution providers to contact, explain, visit and demonstrate the necessary steps for HOW locations within the geographies their companies serve to reduce vulnerability to acts of violence.
Although funding can be a challenge, it ought not be a roadblock. Where there is a will, there is a way, and for HOWs and security providers that needs to result in all parties committing to partner on solutions.
The Layered Approach to Security
As with my previous column on schools, protecting HOWs requires a layered approach that must be recommended and detailed to those end users. This entails multiple systems, protocols and people working together to deter threats, detect suspicious activity and respond quickly.
It’s an approach inclusive of most facets of the security industry.
Critically, that includes advancements during the past few years that have made it possible to move beyond danger alerts and eventual reaction to proactive intervention that can derail criminal or terrorist acts in real time.
Broadly, layers to discuss with the HOW customer or prospect include physical barriers and perimeter protection; access control; intrusion detection; video surveillance; remote monitoring and remote guarding; human security personnel; emergency preparedness and training; and coordination with law enforcement.
Help them understand how each layer plays a key role in preventing attacks or minimizing their impact. Advise them that while legacy systems they may have in place can still play an important role in a total solution with redundant safeguards, they need to be aware of potential obsolescence and apprised of newer technologies and capabilities.
Make them cognizant that the latter’s sophistication can keep an event from spiraling into a tragedy.
Making Inroads on HOW Security
Anyone attending this year’s ISC West show was bombarded with artificial intelligence-enhanced video security and monitoring as the industry’s more progressive faction is rapidly and inextricably converging around preventive value propositions and platforms.
Implementing those breakthroughs with applied and operational expertise and completing the loop by blending them with human assessment, intervention and response can deliver HOWs and other mission-critical environments heretofore unimagined levels of security and safety. The future of security is disrupting ongoing incidents, escalating appropriately and altering outcomes in real time.
While such developments are exciting, end users are often unaware of what has become possible or intimidated by perceived complexities. Cost and budget can also be impediments.
Fortunately, HOWs can potentially tap federal programs such as the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help fund security improvements. Now is the time for professional providers to step up as trusted partners and hand-hold HOW constituents as they navigate the essential process of strengthening their security posture.
Together, let’s preserve HOWs as sanctuaries of faith, community and peace — not targets for violence.
