PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Pittsburgh synagogue sought active-shooter training from feds: official :: 10/28/2018
The Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 worshipers were gunned down sought a government “security expert” earlier this year to gauge its vulnerability to attack — including an “active shooter” scenario, a federal official told The Post.
The Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill directly requested the “security site visit” as it prepared to submit an application for a Department of Homeland Security “nonprofit security grant,” the official said.
“Facilities routinely request this support to better understand their vulnerabilities to ensure they target their application against their most significant risks,” the official said. “This security site visit looked at vulnerabilities against multiple threats, with an active shooter incident among them.”
According to the Homeland Security website, the grants provide “funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen first revealed broad details of the security review during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We actually conducted a site visit there with our protective security adviser in the area,” she said. “This is something we often do.”
“We feel that the best way to help communities support their efforts in terms of protection is to be there, to be there on the ground, to listen to them, to understand their needs,” she added.
She emphasized the need for safety training at soft-target sites like the synagogue.
“Each individual location, each individual event is slightly different and that’s why the planning and the training is so important,” Nielsen said. “In such events there is rarely time to think through roles and responsibilities; the response has got to be automatic and that’s where the drills and the workshops that we conduct come in.”
Robert Bowers is charged with carrying out the hate-filled rampage at the synagogue on Saturday when he killed 11 people, including eight men and three women.
