Protecting Our Churches In 2025

Back in 2014, a retired Jewish corrections captain, whose beat had been the Tombs (the commonly used name for the very tough Manhattan Detention Complex) was asked about the protective or counter measures his synagogue had against terrorism or an active shooter. His answer was, “We have uniformed police officers directing traffic at the temple. We certainly hope they would come in and handle any situation.” 

Even though there is a benefit of having uniformed police officers controlling traffic between services, is it enough? 

Todd Burke is an experienced safety forces, police, fire, and medic trainer from Missouri who trains both nationally and internationally. His opinion is that in this case, the issue is one of denial. It’s not enough to simply hope that traffic control police officers will be able to handle such timely and high-risk security issues such as a violent person or an active shooter. 

The off-duty deputy sheriff or police officer within the congregation might be in the congregation with his wife and family. It would take moments to grasp what is going on because there in the church, temple or mosque, they would be in shock like everyone else if shots were fired. If he has a concealed gun and responds, would he hit innocent people? And would he, his family, and people around him become bullet magnets?

A local church in Missouri with a weekend attendance of around 6,000 worshipers approached Burke about training. They relied on off-dut...