D.C.-area police promise more patrols at synagogues after Boulder attack

Fairfax County police, responding to Sunday’s attack on a Jewish gathering in Boulder, Colorado, said they will increase patrols around synagogues and other places of worship, and D.C. and Montgomery County police said they would continue an already heightened response to a recent act of apparent antisemitic violence in the District.

At least eight people were injured in Boulder when a man threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd and yelled “Free Palestine” before he was taken into custody, police said. The attack happened during a peaceful weekly event organized by a Jewish group in downtown Boulder to call for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, the FBI said.

The three Washington-area law enforcement agencies said they were monitoring the events in Colorado but had no evidence of any specific threat here. Nevertheless, they said, they were taking protective steps.

“The safety of our faith-based institutions” continues “to be paramount,” Fairfax County police said.

Citing the “targeted attack” in Boulder, the Fairfax department said it is “enhancing our patrols and visibility around our synagogues and all places of worship.”

Montgomery County police joined the other agencies in expressing sadness and extending condolences over the Boulder attack and said that even before Sunday, they had “increased police presence throughout the county.”

That was an apparent reference to the announcement of stepped-up patrols after the fatal shooting last month outside the Capital Jewish Museum of a couple who worked for the Israeli Embassy. The gunman chanted “Free, free Palestine” after the shooting, according to authorities.

After those killings, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said on May 22 that police had increased visibility and patrols “near faith-based institutions.”

In response to the museum shootings, D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said officers would be increasingly present around faith-based institutions, including “places like the D.C. Jewish Community Center.”

In their statement Sunday, D.C. police said they have “maintained an increased presence at religious institutions across the city with particular attention to Jewish institutions.”

In the wake of the Boulder attack, D.C. police said they were “actively coordinating” with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

For several years now, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has run a service called JShield, which offers risk assessments to Jewish organizations free of charge. JShield, which has a full-time staff of five people, also offers security training and help for groups seeking security grants.

Gil Preuss, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, said the attack in Boulder further confirmed the need for Jewish organizations to protect themselves.

“Every Jewish organization that we work with is reviewing its security plans,” he said.

It’s not just about hardening physical buildings, he said. It’s also about thinking through how to plan, publicize and run community events. One of his recommendations: When announcing an event, provide only a general location – such as downtown Washington, Rockville or Fairfax County. Only when a person registers, and provides a real name and email address, should the exact location be provided.

Every kind of Jewish group should be taking such precautions, he said, including synagogues, Jewish community centers and college organizations. As practical and sensible as the precautions are, Preuss said, the fact that they have to be taken is hardly lost on him.

“It’s horrible. The idea that these are the times we live in now, it’s horrible,” Preuss said. “When I walk into my own synagogue, I have to go through a metal detector.”

At the same time, he knows the possible harm of taking security measures to the extreme.

“Our whole idea as Jewish organizations is to bring people in, to be welcoming, to build communities,” he said. “We can’t become fortresses.”