ATLANTA — The FBI Atlanta along with the Department of Homeland Security hosted a security conference Tuesday night, aimed at keeping houses of worship safe from attacks.
Officials from the agencies met with community members both in-person and virtually for two hours.
Acting Special Agent in charge of FBI Atlanta Philip Wislar spoke at the conference.
"It's unfortunate in this day in age that we incorporate crisis management drills and lockdown drills in schools and houses of worship just like we practice fire drills and tornado drills and hurricane drills when we were growing up. These were not drills that we had to rehearse," he said. "In this day in age that’s a reality.”
According to statistics from the FBI, in the last 20 years, there have been 333 active shooter incidents--with 2,851 casualties. Four of those incidents took place in Georgia.
"Those risks and those vulnerabilities just don’t happen in physical house of worship... they can happen anywhere in the community," Wislar added.
For perspective, of all the active shooter incidents from the 2000 - 2019 time period, 329 people died at a business open to pedestrian traffic, while 80 died at a house of worship.
Tuesday night's conference, however, brought people from all walks of life.
"Every faith was represented… that really represents our country. To me that’s what was most moving: to have folks who represent every faith present here to have these conversations. Regardless of what background, denomination or community you come from, many times acts of violence can be prevented because of the information the communities provide to law enforcement," Wislar said.
About 120 people attended the conference in-person at The Church of the Apostles, while 50 joined virtually.
The focus of the discussion was how to keep houses of worship safe from extremist groups who could be targeting different religions in order to commit civil rights crimes.
"We talked about the difficulty of this conversation for many people of faiths because most faiths and all faiths are welcoming to houses of worship so its very contrary to look at someone and wonder if they’re there for the right reasons," he added.
Wislar says they host these meetings quarterly in the Greater Atlanta area, they have conversations with faith-based communities and leaders every single week.
"Faiths want to share their faiths," he said. "When strangers come to their house, they want to welcome them and bring them in and be a part of their community and sometimes there are folks who have nefarious intent who would use that as a vulnerability and mechanism to gain access."
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