Protecting Places of Worship Forum

The Protecting Places of Worship forum is a half-day session that provides faith-based leaders and congregations with information about religious hate crimes, state and federal hate crimes laws, law enforcement threat assessments, and ways to protect places of worship from potential hate crimes and other threats of violence. The program encourages the implementation of a security program, offers best practices for security, fosters networking and community outreach, and provides resources such as examples of security plans and community responses.

Program Goals

• Identify best practices for protecting places of worship
• Improve participants’ understanding of local, state, and federal hate crimes laws and ways to report alleged hate crimes
• Build a faith-based working group tasked with working on safety and security issues
• Identify federal, state, and local resources, programs, and tools to help protect/secure places of worship

Forum Includes the Following Components

• Law enforcement experts provide an overview of federal and state hate crimes
• Law enforcement experts provide an overview of hate crimes statistics and symbols
• Law enforcement and security experts provide an overview of strategies to secure places of worship and prepare staff, clergy, and congregants for an active shooter situation