Feds advise faith groups on security
Iram Jafri remembers the heart-wrenching insecurity she and other members of the Ahlul Bayt Society Islamic Center felt in February when their worship center was vandalized.
She also knows the positive action that came out of an otherwise negative situation at the center in Perry Township.
“One bad thing mobilized the community,” said Jafri, who is on the center’s interfaith outreach committee and lives in Galena. “A lot of good has come out of it.”
Letters of support from people in the community and
all over the country followed the desecration, as did a close relationship with local and federal law enforcement.
“They’re there to protect us,” Jafri said of Perry Township police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “It’s opened more doors that help us and protect us.”
The relationship between law-enforcement officials and faith communities was the topic of a discussion on Wednesday at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard. Faith and community leaders were invited to the event to hear from local FBI representatives, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Benjamin Glassman, a representative of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office, and Columbus City Councilman Michael Stinziano.
The officials advised on identifying threats, increasing surveillance and taking proper security measures.
The cultural center held a similar event a few years ago, and it plans to hold more on a regular basis, said Imran Malik, its executivecommittee president.
“With what the immigrant community is going through, and with the election and postelection, definitely security has become a concern again,” Malik said. “Now it’s been put back on the forefront.”
The goal is to create a dialogue between law enforcement and faith groups, he said.
“The only way to make (faith communities) safe and secure is through cooperation,” Malik said. “This is an opportunity for all of us to look forward and make sure we are there for each other.”
The relationship between law enforcement and central Ohio faith communities is strong, Glassman said.
“As federal prosecutor here, I am very committed to doing everything possible to protect minority faith communities,” he said. “I do believe (hate crimes) are the kind of crimes that can be deterred.”
Without the cooperation of faith communities, law enforcement can do only so much, Glassman said.
“I think to be effective, to be strong, to be as safe as we possibly can, law enforcement and faith communities — and frankly, communities generally — need to be open and work together,” he said.
Despite the current environment, Jafri said she was surprised by the anti-Muslim comments written on the Ahlul Bayt building. She attended Wednesday’s event at the cultural center because of the vandalism, and she plans to help the center put a security plan in place.
Her advice to other places of worship is to “be proactive.”