On Monday 23rd September, Faiths Forum for London collaborated with The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and Community Security Trust (CST) hosted a seminar for London faith communities and leaders on the safety and security of places of worship.
The session at the City Hall included a detailed presentation from the CST on the risk to premises and worshipers, providing practical advice on how places of worship can organise to mitigate this risk and signposting to helpful information. The session also included a Q&A session with panelists from each respected organisation. The session also included a Q&A session with panelists from each respected organisation.
“London is a great city and faith institutions need to be vigilant around security. It is important that communities are aware of mechanisms on how to stay safe within their community.
“Faith institutions play a central role for many, and it is more important than ever to ensure that any knowledge around security is not lost in conversation,” said Mustafa Field OBE from Faiths Forum for London.
The event aimed at raising awareness around this issue and using the CST’s experience of mitigating safety and security risks to build confidence and help religious leaders from all faith backgrounds improve their security measures. In light of this year’s tragic attacks on places of worship across the globe, many faith communities are anxious. Religiously motivated hate crime was recently noted as rising by 40% and so this important collaboration was vital in offering tangible advice to address this concern with our communities.
“CST is proud to play its part in helping other faiths to best protect themselves against terrorism. We are taking many decades of Jewish experience and using them for the benefit of all our fellow Londoners,” said David Delew, Chief Executive, CST.
