SCN CEO Visits Indianapolis
On Oct. 4-5, Safe Indy and the broader Jewish community hosted Michael Masters, National Director and CEO, Secure Community Network (SCN), the official safety and security organization for the Jewish community in North America. In an effort to generate additional, ongoing support for the Safe Indy Security Initiative, Masters met individually with a number of community members and provided remarks during an evening community gathering detailing SCN’s efforts to protect the Jewish community in Indiana, and across the US. 
“Spending time in Indianapolis with Federation and community leadership, professionals, and stakeholders, the value of Safe Indy and the impact of Community Security Director Grant Mendenhall came through in every conversation,” said Masters. “Ensuring the safety and security of the Jewish community means our community can flourish for generations to come, and that work is underway every day in Indianapolis.”
Safe Indy Expands Trainings
Throughout late 2021, Safe Indy was focused on conducting organizational-level training and workshops. While community trainings, which will continue, are critical to Safe Indy’s mission of building a proactive security culture that promotes preparedness and prevention throughout our Jewish community, organization-level training provides the added opportunity to engage in practical discussions and real-world scenarios based on the unique dynamics of each organization’s facility and operations. During this period, Safe Indy conducted nine training sessions across the community including Situational Awareness and Countering Active Threats, Safety and Security Team Considerations, Cybersecurity Awareness, and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program process.
Interfaith Security Training
On Dec. 14, Safe Indy, in partnership with Secure Community Network and the Indianapolis/Marion County Interfaith Security Working Group, held Safety and Security Team Considerations training at Northview Church’s Binford Campus. The event brought out 46 members of the interfaith community representing a wide range of faiths from communities across the state of Indiana. The event opened with a security briefing led by Jeffrey Wiser from the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the US Department of Homeland Security and a member of the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center. Training was co-led by Mendenhall and Stuart Frisch, SCN’s National Training and Exercise Advisor.
“By bringing faith communities together this morning we are taking critical steps to creating a true community capacity for preventing violent threats to our houses of worship,” said Frisch. “Secure Community Network and Safe Indy will continue to work with interfaith groups to ensure standardization of training and exposure to national thought leaders in the mitigation and response to critical incidents in our faith communities.”
Campus Security Committee
The Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, in partnership with Safe Indy, recently established a Campus Security Committee as a forum to discuss security-related concerns impacting the Jewish organizations on the Max and Mae Simon Jewish Community Campus. The committee’s Co-Chairs are the current JFGI and JCC Presidents - Leslie Rubin and Steve Harms, and the committee includes representatives from all campus agencies. A major focus of the committee will be the creation of a comprehensive Campus Security Plan focused on minimizing risk by establishing safety and security operational best practices across the campus.