Chicago Suburbs Tighten Security At Places Of Worship After Temple Attack Plot

CHICAGO, IL – Police in Naperville, a Chicago suburb with a large Indian American population, have increased patrols at religious sites and are offering free security assessments to places of worship following an alleged plot to attack a Hindu temple in neighboring Aurora earlier this month.

Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres outlined the measures at an interfaith “Dialogue on Hate Crimes” held at Wesley United Methodist Church, local broadcaster NCTV17 reported. More than 50 people representing at least seven faith communities attended the gathering.

“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.”

Arres also encouraged faith leaders to participate in the department’s free Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events course. He urged residents to report suspicious activity, saying, “If you see something suspicious, if you’re worried about something, you’re not bothering us, and it’s okay to call 911 in those situations.”

The gathering was organized by United for Peace and the Naperville Interfaith Leaders Association following the alleged plot targeting the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora on October 11, the first day of Navaratri.

Shalini Gupta, a board member of United for Peace, said the alleged attacker’s manifesto expressed hatred towards multiple communities.

“The manifesto the shooter had expressed hate towards many communities and the Jewish community, African Americans, Indians, and others,” she said.

Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli said the attempted attack had affected the wider community.

“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,” he said.

“I find it ironic that hate has brought us together here to have real community conversations, but those conversations have to continue not just when tragedies occur,” Wehrli added.

Aurora Mayor John Laesch also attended the gathering.

Naperville resident Saily Joshi said the incident had been frightening because her family visits the temple.

“To see that happen so close to home, it was scary, that’s a temple that our family goes to,” she said.

Rabbi David Eber of Congregation Beth Shalom said synagogues across the United States were already taking similar security measures. (IANS)