Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh partners with Community Security Service to strengthen security at places of worship

FBI data shows that over 1,500 anti-Jewish hate crime incidents were reported in 2025, and those crimes account for nearly two-thirds of all reported religion-based hate crimes nationwide.The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is teaming up with Community Security Service to reduce hate crimes in local neighborhoods.Together, they're offering a new volunteer security training for local organizations this month specifically for the Jewish population.Eric Kroll, the Jewish Federation's deputy director of community security, said volunteers learn professional-grade security and best practices with hours of online and in-person training through CSS."Rather than be reactive, we want to be proactive and prevent problems from happening inside our places of worship," Kroll said. "I think it's definitely an asset to our community."So far, with one in-person training last weekend, Kroll said the turnout was positive."We're excited, we're excited. We have a lot of willing volunteers."Those v