A comprehensive look at open-source data for all faiths. This is important because other groups only catalogue data for singular faith traditions.
The report, which includes key findings and implications for securing houses of worship, is available here. Some notable findings include:
• The distribution of attacks on houses of worship is hugely disproportional – 51% of attacks occurred against faiths that represent less than 10% of the total houses of worship – and are clustered in just 9 states.
• Attack types vary by region and faith. Firearms and bladed weapons are reported in fewer than 10% of incidents. The most common weapons reported are also the most commonly available: fists and common everyday objects found on-scene, including rocks, bricks, spray paint, work tools, and other blunt objects.
• Ninety-five percent (95%) of attacks produce no casualties, and those incidents that resulted in injuries most often occurred outside the house of worship, in the parking lot or elsewhere on the grounds.
“Access to data like this allows us to focus our security resources where they will have the greatest impact on the safety and wellbeing of our members,” said Andy Jabbour, Senior Advisor to the FB-ISAO. “I commend the efforts of FB-ISAO and the ORG to develop this unique and important analysis which assists security leaders with understanding the ever-changing threat and risk landscape. This analysis should give leaders the information they need to prioritize limited time and resources and to help inform the development of plans, training and exercises to reduce risk and protect their people and places. The mission, and work, of the FB-ISAO is to provide information to inform resilience activities and thus help protect the free practice of faith.”
The data, in the report, provides information to law enforcement and individual houses of worship to assist with making fact-based, data-driven decisions to help secure people and places of faith. Members of the FB-ISAO receive a briefing on current incidents every quarter. FB-ISAO is a membership-driven organization that is open to U.S. citizens of all faiths and their supporting organizations.
The Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization serves as a trusted partner at the center of a national network of faith-based organizations and associations that have been informed and equipped to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents arising from all-hazards, ensuring the resilience and continuity of these important community assets that include Cybersecurity incidents, Physical security incidents, Public health incidents and Natural disasters.
Mayya Saab
Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization
+1 703-977-7059
mayya@faithbased-isao.org