10 Things You Can Do To Upgrade Your Site’s Security

By Zalman Myer-Smith

A few weeks ago the Department of Homeland Security awarded $180 million in grants to upgrade physical security through the FEMA Non Profit Security Grant (NSGP). This grant is an annual boon to non profit sites as a part of their security upgrade process and has become very popular.

This year, nonprofits submitted 3,361 applications and only 1,532 grants were approved. The budget approved by Congress was for $180 million (doubled in 2019 by the Trump Administration). What this means is overall, only 46% of applications were awarded. So fewer than half of NSGP grant applications for 2021 were approved. Sadly, an effort to raise the appropriated funds to $360 million in light of increased hate attacks on different faiths or minorities failed.

Chabad sites, in particular, are the most visible and largest Jewish infrastructure in the United States and their very essence is interaction with the community. Communities need to be able to function without fear or negative interference.

CSO helped facilitate a significant amount of successful grant awards and we have a unique insight into what works and what does not.

1) A strong security assessment
2 A solid grant writing team that analyzes your unique circumstances and site issues
3) A strong narrative incorporating your strengths and weaknesses
4) Clear supporting documents

Even if you were not awarded this year, there are many areas that you can work on to improve the security at your site. Security is an integral part of your operations and there are many liabilities in not addressing inadequacies in the safety and security of your location.

Here are 10 things you can do now to upgrade the security at your site:

– Maintain a solid relationship with local law enforcement. This costs nothing and is critical to have before an incident occurs. Identify a point of contact at your site to be a law enforcement liaison. This could be a trusted volunteer.

– Everyone at your site needs to know how to report and who to report to in the case of an incident or identification of suspicious behavior.

– Make your site difficult to attack and implement methods to detect and delay an attacker.

– Get training for yourself and onsite staff in security procedures, protocols, and responses.

– Build a volunteer force. Ultimately, EVERYONE can be a trained observer and report to those who can mitigate an incident or suspicious behavior. We need to be proactive, prepared, and able to respond to different types of attacks factoring in training, liability, and exposure.

– Get a solid security assessment.

– Seek local or government funding for physical security upgrades.

– Report every incident, however small. If you don’t report it, it’s as if it never happened.

– Implement low cost or no cost upgrades to your security.

– Confirm that your onsite emergency medical equipment is in good working order.

As we prepare for a new Jewish year and back to school, let us do so by implementing best practices for the security of our sites. Elul is a time for checking mezuzas, tefillin and more critically taking stock of our neshomas. This is also a perfect time to examine the security protocols we have in place, and identify how we can improve those systems as we work towards a sweet, healthy, happy, safe and secure New Year.

Zalman Myer-Smith is the Executive Director of www.thecso.org, a Florida-based volunteer Community Security Organization liaising, training, and working with law enforcement agencies and serving Jewish community synagogues, schools, and centers. Zalman is also the Director of Security for both Lubavitch Educational Center in Miami and for Chabad of Florida.