The Kansas City Jewish community increased security dramatically following the 2014 shootings at the Jewish Community Campus and Village Shalom. Most buildings are now locked, the security guards at the Campus are armed, and security is visible at several congregations during special events and at Jewish schools.
After the events of 2014, the Jewish community hired a director of community security under the auspices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. In the aftermath of the murder of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, Community Security Director Chuck Green said on Monday our local community has had four years to prepare for a variety of scenarios.
“The Pittsburgh tragedy — and the resulting heightened alert for all Jewish communities across the U.S. — demonstrated to us that all our area Jewish organizations are better prepared,” he said. “That was evident in the quick and appropriate reactions each organization took to ensure the safety of their members or congregants.”
The evening of the shooting, local congregations started contacting their members via email to remind them of the security measures they had in place and to be especially vigilant and pay attention to their surroundings as they attended functions at Jewish sites across the community. All local congregations held weekend activities as usual following news of the shootings.
The security department at Village Shalom was immediately put on heightened awareness when the retirement community received the alert through the Secure Community Network, operated by Jewish Federations of North America.
“We increased security staffing and expanded campus patrols,” said Village Shalom President and CEO Matt Lewis. “We’ve also asked all residents, staff and visitors to be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity immediately.”
The exact communications from the congregations to their members have not been made public. Security Director Green said this was all part of the effort to ensure that members of the Jewish community remained safe and secure.
“To do that, we choose not to divulge too much information publicly,” Green stated. “The more information shared, the more available it is to people who may intend to do harm.”
Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, the community’s largest congregation, assured The Chronicle the community is taking these things seriously.
“I want to make sure that everyone in our community and in all of our communities are safe,” he said Saturday evening.
Congregation Beth Torah is one of the congregations that followed recommendations from Federation, Homeland Security and the FBI in 2014. Director of Operations Laura Intfen said Beth Torah would continue to be vigilant about security and evaluate the need for additional security “based on events as they arise.”
In addition to heightened security this past weekend, Village Shalom made sure emotional support was available to its residents, their family members and staff.
“The Village Shalom social services team, spiritual volunteers through Jewish Family Services and its community colleagues at Behavioral Health Partners made themselves available to anyone experiencing grief or trauma in response to memories evoked by these most recent tragic events,” Lewis said.
KU Hillel and Chabad at KU also announced they were making people available to any student who needed support following the tragedy.