Officials see hate crimes that morph into domestic terrorist attacks increase
The shootings at a kosher market in Jersey City, N.J., last week were horrific. Now categorized as an instance of domestic terrorism, the attack left six people dead, including a police officer, the store owner, an employee, a customer, and the two shooters. The attackers have been linked to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a designated hate group that had published anti-Semitic posts online, according to the Daily Mail.
The Mayor of Jersey City, Steven Fulop, said that he believes the shooters in the attack were targeting the children at the yeshiva school attached to the market. He told USA Today that it was “easy to conclude” the shooters’ intentions were to continue to the adjacent school, which contained 50 students at the time of the shootings.
Focus on Prevention
After-action analyses of active shooter attacks in K-12 schools (Parkland, Santa Fe, Saugus), hospitals (Bronx-Lebanon, Parrish Medical Center), universities (University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Umpqua Community College, UC Merced), and even nightclubs (the Borderline Grill, the Pulse Nightclub) have demonstrated that these incidents are more likely to occur in places that have very weak access control, a higher overall crime rate, and general lack of security controls. All the above locations had little or no security.
In looking for security controls that could have made a difference in the Jersey City shooting, we should start by looking at the FBI Uniform Crime Index. The Uniform Crime Rate was 26 out of 100 for Jersey City. This means that 74% of the country was safer than Jersey City, including Manhattan, which has a crime score of 30.
But an attack on a small kosher market on a weekday is much harder to analyze and assess what went wrong. When armed attackers run from their van to your store with guns blazing what could have been done to prevent such an incident?
However, as these attacks become more frequent with populations singled out for hate crimes, extra security becomes a necessity, not an option.
NYC Creates New Unit to Stop Hate Crimes
Following last week’s shooting, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio along with the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced the formation of the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism squad, a new police unit tasked with preventing hate crimes.
“There’s a crisis of anti-Semitism gripping this nation. There’s a crisis of anti-Semitism in this city,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Now we have seen this extraordinarily extreme form of violence reach the doorstep of New York City, and we have to take that as a warning sign.”
This new emphasis on domestic terrorism and hate crimes reflects the slow, gradual increase in these incidents in the U.S. These types of crimes have been staging an under-the-radar resurgence ever since a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Va., in August of 2017, killing one and injuring 28 others.
Other recent active shooter incidents, which have been identified as hate crimes included the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October of 2018 and the synagogue in Poway, California, which was attacked this past April by a man who posted his intentions online before he started his shooting spree.
About the Author:
Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton is an expert in high risk active shooter-workplace violence incidents, and a futurist, who creates innovative facility security risk assessment solutions, including how to prevent active shooters and workplace violence in healthcare, education, government, retail and manufacturing sectors. She is a member of the Palm Beach County Public Private Partnership, and on the Board of the Palm Beach County Crime Prevention Board. She is a long-time member of ASIS (American Society of Industrial Security) and IAHSS (International Association of Healthcare Safety and Security). As part of the Department of Defense Industrial Base, she lives in South Florida in Parkland, and works every day doing risk assessments, analyzing incidents and conducting training to keep people safe. You can write to her at [email protected].
