JTA
Here’s what it costs to put your synagogue under armed guard
by Ben Sales
November 13, 2018

After a mass shooting in a heavily Jewish area shocked the nation, Rabbi Yakov Saacks felt like his Long Island congregation was at risk. So the rabbi installed 17 cameras on the synagogue’s exterior that can zoom in to read numbers on license plates, as well as indoor cameras at each entrance. He began covering the windows with Kevlar, at around $800 each…And he hired armed security guards to protect the Hebrew school and Shabbat services. When the sanctuary is especially crowded — on the High Holidays, for example — as many as three guards will patrol the building carrying guns and communicating by radio. READ MORE