BeAware: An Introduction to Situational Awareness™

Over the last several years, we have seen increased levels of hate crimes, antisemitic incidents, and physical violence directed at the Jewish people, both around the world and in North America. Since October 2018, four deadly attacks have been carried out on the Jewish community in North America. In the same time frame, law enforcement has disrupted numerous plots aimed against Jewish organizations just in the United States. 

While we cannot pick the time and date of the next incident that will impact our community, we can choose to prepare by investing time, effort, resources, and energy in sound safety and security strategies and practices to keep our families safe and our community secure. A critical component of these efforts relates to training. Simply put, training saves lives. Training and exercise provide critical skills while empowering our community and enhancing resiliency. 

The Be Aware: An Introduction to Situational Awareness training was designed by a team of committed professionals with in-depth experience in instructional design and critical real-world application of skills to train and prepare thousands of members of the Jewish community, as well as law enforcement both in the United States and abroad, through engagement with key partners, stakeholders, and community members to ensure an inclusive approach.  

This training was designed with input from the community, for the community: from the congregant to the rabbi, the parent to the principal, and the frontline (or front desk) volunteer to those charged with safety and security.  

SCN developed BeAware using a similar approach to the fire safety model employed across North America: Adopt uniform protection strategies based on best practice; mitigate risk through the national implementation of counter-threat tactics, techniques, and procedures; and address specific vulnerabilities of communities by improving the community resilience from within.