On Thursday, January 23^rd, we attended the Federation Security Conference led by Shawn Brokos. The purpose was to review ongoing and proposed efforts to enhance our security in light of the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Pittsburgh and rising political violence across the country.  The news was sobering.

Number of Anti-Semitic Incidents Reported to Federation, by Year

                              2020:                                             44
                              2021:                                             82
                              2022:                                           122
                              2023:                                           300               (year of trial)
                              2024:                                           283               (most after October 7^th)
                              2025 (so far):                               12

We are all familiar with the graffiti attack on Chabad (our old building) – but due to efforts of the police and others, the perpetrators were apprehended and have been charged with hate crimes. Some of the Federation security initiatives which you may not have been aware of include:

• Virtual Block Watch: The Federation is compiling a list of homes with security cameras (Ring doorbells, etc.). The Virtual Block Watch is one of the Jewish Federation’s proactive volunteer measures for keeping our community safe through collaborative efforts. This is an opportunity to be an active bystander and work in concert with your neighbors, community leaders, and law enforcement to prevent, deter, and, in some cases, solve crimes. If you have exterior home security cameras, we ask that you join our neighborhood registry and if called upon by the Jewish Federation or law enforcement, to voluntarily share that information or footage. If interested, you can enroll at: https://jewishpgh.org/info/virtual-block-watch/
• Security Grants: In 2024, the Federation assisted in obtaining almost $1.5 million dollars in State security grants and over $500,000 in Federal grants for 29 Jewish institutions.
• Training. Ms. Brokos and her staff conducted over 93 training sessions for almost 7,600 individuals. Training topics include: Advanced Countering Active Threat with Defensive Tactics, Stop the Bleed/CPR, De-Escalation Training, First to Respond, and Personal Safety. We can request training for our members. Please write us if you are interested.

Plans for 2025 include:

• LPR – License Plate Reading Cameras. The City of Pittsburgh is installing four license-plate-reading-cameras (LPR) cameras designed to monitor all vehicular traffic to identify license plates and passengers at four intersections in Squirrel Hill.
  • Forbes & Murray
  • Shady and Wilkins
  • Beechwood and Forbes
  • Beechwood and Hazelton (by Brownshill Road)

The Federation is seeking grants to add these cameras to local Jewish organization buildings (including Beth Shalom).

• Police Boxes. All buildings are required to have an external box accessible by the Fire Department to bypass building security measures. We have made our building too secure! The Pittsburgh Police is seeking funding to install a similar box that the Police can access to gain entry into our buildings. Beth Shalom has such a box installed.
• New Proactive Threat Notification System. Our current Blue Box security system is designed to alert leadership after a threat has been detected. The Federation is seeking to develop a new text-based notification system to proactively distribute alerts about potential or ongoing threats outside our area. They hope to do a test in May, 2025

For over ten years the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh has prioritized enhanced security for the Jewish community. After 2017 significant State and Federal grant dollars became available to underwrite those security efforts. While we hope they will never be needed, it is good to know that training, grants, and personal protection programs exist – just in case.

If you are interested in learning more about any of these programs, please write to Barbara or Steve.