Owings Mills JCC Receives Bomb Threat on Monday

February 27, 2017 Simone Ellin, Associate Editor

The Owings Mills Jewish Community Center was one of more than 20 Jewish institutions in 12 states that received telephoned bomb threats on Monday morning.

According to Paul Lurie, chief operations officer of the JCC of Greater Baltimore, a call was received by a receptionist at the Owings MIlls center at 10 a.m. Lurie would not specify whether the call was live or placed by a robocall.

This is the third time in six weeks that Baltimore’s JCCs were targeted, but the sixth time in as many weeks that bomb threats were called in to other JCCs and Jewish institutions across the United States. In every case so far, no bombs have been discovered at any of the locations.

The JCC Association recently called for action from federal authorities in counter the waves of bomb threats. “Actions speak louder than words,” said David Posner, the JCCA’s director of strategic performance. “Members of our community must see swift and concerted action from federal officials to identify and capture the perpetrator or perpetrators who are trying to instill anxiety and fear in our communities.”

Bomb threats have been called into nearly 80 Jewish institutions since the beginning of 2017.

In a letter to JCC members and supporters, Barak Hermann, CEO of the JCC of Greater Baltimore, wrote, “Once the threat was received, we immediately followed our safety and security protocols and coordinated with Baltimore County law enforcement. Law enforcement and our security consultants believe that these threats appear similar to the ‘hoax’ threats that JCCs have received over the last two months.

“After consultation and conducting an extensive sweep of the building, we determined that an evacuation of the JCC was not required,” he wrote. “We continue to make security and safety our foremost priority. We are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, as well as the Secure Community Network (SCN), which is focused on security for Jewish institutions throughout North America.

“We are working closely with our local Congressional representatives, the Justice Department, and the FBI to intensify the efforts to address these threats. It is imperative that immediate steps be taken to respond to the situation and identify and prosecute the perpetrators, so that we can stop future acts of intimidation. Our security team has declared that our JCC is safe and is continuing regular operations.”

Hermann concluded, “We will continue our communications to keep you fully apprised of the evolving situation. As a community, we must continue to work together to combat anti-Semitism in all its forms.”

Among the other impacted JCCs on Monday were Asheville, N.C., and Davie, Fla., York and Harrisburg, Pa.; Indianapolis; Tarrytown and Staten Island, N.Y., Cherry Hill, N.J.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Wilmington, Del..

In addition, Rockville’s Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, the Aleph Bet Jewish Day School in Annapolis and the David Posnack Jewish Day School in Davie, Fla., received bomb threats.

Paul Goldenberg, director of the Secure Community Network, told the JTA international news agency shortly after reports of the bomb threats began coming in that his organization was working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to identify the perpetrators and stop the threats. SCN is an affiliate of the Jewish Federations of North America that advises Jewish groups and institutions on security. SCN also is working closely with the Anti-Defamation League, Goldenberg said.

Goldenberg said the Jewish institutions are “behaving in an exemplary manner” in the wake of the threats. “Our Jewish schools and our JCCs continue to train for this, continue to execute well-placed measures,” he said, going on to praise the staffs of U.S. Jewish institutions as being “vigilant.”

Said Lurie: “We’re in touch with local and national security authorities, and we believe they are making progress in determining who is behind these threats. So far, though, they have not identified them. We hope this can be rectified immediately.”

After the last two bomb threats were called into the Park Heights center location, JCC security officials and staff, in consultation with the Baltimore Police Department, made the decision to evacuate the facility. Once the building was carefully inspected on both occasions — and preschool students were moved to another location — staff and members were permitted to reenter the center.