Security is nothing new for Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, nor for Jewish institutions across the country.
Overall, the Jewish community in North America spends about $765 million per year on security costs, according to the Jewish Federations of North America.
The Secure Community Network, or SCN, is a national organization that offers trainings and intelligence for securing Jewish institutions. Michael Masters, the national director and CEO, described the SCN as the “FBI for the Jewish community,” overseeing security from a high level and offering a curriculum for regional Jewish federations to train local institutions.
Over 13,000 institutions are part of the network, and Masters said they trained over 40,000 members of the Jewish community last year.
Their work has grown exponentially over the past decade, particularly since the 2018 attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Masters said the SCN had four employees and a budget of $1.2 million in 2017. It now has a $34 million budget and 130 employees.
The heavy security at Jewish institutions is easy to see, noted Donell Harvin, the former chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for Washington, DC.
“I’ve worked a lot with houses of worship in DC, and every time I go to a synagogue I’m taken aback by how prepared they are, with armed security that is visible, sometimes law enforcement,” he said. “This community has been under siege for quite a long time. They’re not new to this.”
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