According to the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study, an estimated 69 percent of the U.S. public attend religious services at a House of Worship on at least a monthly basis. Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and other sites of religious practice often offer even more than just faith-based activity – many also offer schooling, education, philanthropic opportunities, social activities and more. 

Unfortunately, the sanctity of houses of worship is not always respected. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that incidents of targeted violence and hate crime increased over the ten-year period from 2009 to 2019. The number of hate crimes tied to religious backgrounds reported in 2021 was the highest since 2001.

Incidents at houses of worship range from minor property crime like graffitied hate speech or damage to the building, to horrific violent acts such as arson, assaults, or shootings. At varying levels, all of these incidents have negative, potentially far-reaching consequences for the institution, individual members, and the community. 

While each congregation will have its own security concerns, these steps provide a framework to model a comprehensive safety plan. 

1. Identify a team

When nobody owns the responsibility for safety and security, vulnerabilities can easily arise. Houses of worship should identify a specific team or committee responsible for overall safety, with each member designated a task or area of responsibility. For example, one person may be responsible for vetting and engaging a security guard during worship services. Another might be tasked with updating an alarm system for the building. The committee should have regular check in meetings to keep team members on track and ensure the entire committee has a holistic view of the overall security strategy. 

2. Conduct a safety assessment

The committee should perform a holistic review of current safety and security measures, and assess risk realistically. The Department of Homeland Security provides a helpful formula for assessing risk:

Risk = threat × vulnerability × consequence

• Threat: natural or man-made occurrence, individual, entity, or action that has or indicates the capability and intent to harm life, information, operations, the environment, and/or property
• Vulnerability: physical feature or operational attribute that renders an entity open to exploitation or susceptible to a given hazard
• Consequence: effect of an event, incident, or occurrence

So for example, what is your religious organization’s risk for a property crime, like theft? The threat is the crime itself; your vulnerabilities are areas where theft could occur (a parking lot, for example), and the consequence is that a member of the organization would lose property, and could feel unsafe when coming to the place of worship in the future. The house of worship might lose members if it experiences consistent theft. 

It is only after performing a thorough assessment of risk that the safety committee can move forward with taking actions. 

3. Develop emergency plans

The safety team, in concert with local law enforcement and trained security personnel, should come up with several plans in the event of a dangerous situation. This could include an active shooter plan, an incident management plan, an arson plan, and more. Collaboration with local police and emergency responders is critical at this stage! Work with officers to understand what leaders and members of the congregation should do during each of these situations. 

Depending on the action items in each plan, you may or may not need to educate your congregation about it. A religious or community leader might want to present an active shooter plan after a service or during an event. You can also create materials and guides to educate members. And it may be wise to schedule a few drills, so congregants have the chance to practice what the situation would be like in real life. 

4. Implement basic security measures

There are some fairly low-lift security measures that every congregation should consider implementing. This includes installing improved lighting in parking lots and dark areas of the building, checking bags and purses before congregants enter services, hiring security personnel or an off-duty police officer to patrol during events, and implementing a “see something, say something” policy for all congregants. 

Most of these measures can be put into place at a low cost. If there is no dedicated safety budget, consider asking donors to allocate some dollars toward the safety of the congregations.

5. Invest in technology like license plate reader cameras

There are many new technologies on the market today that can bolster security procedures for houses of worship. While video cameras can be helpful to locate a suspect after a crime is committed, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) system can provide both investigative evidence AND real-time proactive alerts to prevent crime from happening in the first place. An ALPR camera can be connected directly to local law enforcement, so if an individual known to be associated with past crime enters the religious institution, police are alerted right away. 

Flock Safety ALPR cameras are deployed at churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country to increase security, help provide evidence for law enforcement, and reduce the chance that an adverse event will occur. 

Want to learn more? Speak with our team to build a customized safety plan today.