Amid a rising threat of antisemitism in Florida, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando is slated to receive $150,000 in state funds to buy a new security system for its campus, State Sen. Randolph Bracy announced Friday.
Bracy’s support for the initiative to fund the security system comes after neo-Nazi rallies seen in Orlando last weekend near UCF and on an Interstate 4 overpass. Three members of the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Movement were arrested Friday, two on hate-crime charges.
“Those kinds of demonstrations are despicable and disgusting,” Bracy said. “I trust law enforcement will come to the right charge, in instances like this. … it should be a hate crime”
Keith Dvorchik, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, said the 100,000-square-foot campus was identified 15 years ago as having weak signal strength, limiting the ability of law enforcement and other rescuers to communicate during an emergency. Adding a bi-directional amplifier would allow law enforcement to have two-way communication with walkie-talkies or other devices while on the premises.
“I hate that we have to do this but I need to keep my people safe,” Dvorchik said.
A House bill sponsored by Seminole County Republican Rep. David Smith to provide the funding is currently in the Appropriations Committee. Bracy said the dollar amount is still being negotiated.
“It’s approved, it’s at a point where we are trying to negotiate if we can get more money,” Bracy said.
The neo-Nazi demonstrations in Orlando came weeks after a gunman took a rabbi and three congregants hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, prompting an ordeal that stretched on for 11 hours.
No one was killed, but the incident reportedly prompted federal authorities to ask houses of worship and law enforcement agencies to evaluate their security procedures, as faith-based communities are at risk for copycat attacks.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando has been targeted in the past.
In 2017 a string of bomb threats against Jewish communities across the nation prompted the facility to evacuate twice in one week, according to The Guardian.
“We’ve had at least four bomb threats in the past,” Dvorchik said.
The center has also experienced antisemitic protests at its campus, which also houses pre-K through fifth-graders, said Lauren Nelson, the development director at the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida, which is housed within the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando.
“We have full-time security out front,” Nelson said. “It’s unfortunate that the kids have to see an armed officer with a bulletproof vest standing out front every day but it’s similar to other school’s resource officers.”
The armed security guard is former military and high-fives the kids as they walk in through the two sets of security doors, Nelson said.
Bracy said there are still other Jewish facilities that could be vulnerable to attacks. He hopes to secure more funding in the future to help those facilities improve their security as well.