Naperville Steps Up Worship-Site Security After Foiled Aurora Hindu Temple Plot: Police Offer Free Security Assessments
NAPERVILLE, DuPage County, Illinois — Police in Naperville, a Chicago suburb with a large Indian American population, have added patrols at religious sites and are offering free security assessments to places of worship, more than two weeks after an alleged plot to attack a Hindu temple in neighbouring Aurora was foiled.
Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres outlined the measures at an interfaith 'Dialogue on Hate Crimes' held at Wesley United Methodist Church, attended by more than 50 people from at least seven faith communities. 'We have a group that will come in and does assessments of your places of worship,' Arres said. 'Everything from where you have cameras, if you need them, where you may even trim bushes or add lighting to keep [your facility] safe, all kinds of free things that we'll do to help the security of our community.' He also encouraged faith leaders to take part in the department's free Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events course, and said that if residents see something suspicious they are not bothering the department and it is okay to call 911.
The gathering was organised by United for Peace and the Naperville Interfaith Leaders Association after the alleged plot targeting the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora on October 11, the first day of Navaratri. 'The manifesto the shooter had expressed hate towards many communities and the Jewish community, African Americans, Indians, and others,' said Shalini Gupta, a board member of United for Peace. Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli said: 'There was an attempted attack on our residents, members of our community, who were at a Hindu temple in Aurora, by somebody who was full of hate and all sorts of ideas that our community just does not tolerate.'
In the United States, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are both protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Every citizen, of every faith background and every political view, is protected under the same legal framework. This report presents the facts and the positions of each side; GSM takes no position of its own.
Source: GSM News
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0
