Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Cops aren't at my episcopal church on Palm Sunday when we process from one location to another, crossing a busy street without a traffic light. They aren't at the Catholic church in my neighborhood on Easter. They aren't at the Mormon church in Alexandria on their holy days.
Not saying it's because of radicalization, but it's certainly not just to escort people across a street that has a streetlight to stop traffic.
Cops are always at the big DC synagogues for big events.
In VA also.
At out synagogue in Maryland, we have two cops for the holidays. One is a Montgomery County on-duty police officer, who directs traffic (and I have no idea is he is paid). The other is an former cop, now a security guard, whom we hire to protect the synagogue and it's occupants (and we do pay him).
FWIW, we have been hiring the cops for decades - certainly before 9/11 and the "age of terrorism." That's because we would come out of services to find our cars littered with flyers about how we were going to hell unless we accepted Jesus. While not vandalism (or worse), it was irritating and most definitely appreciated. (I suspect it was evangelical Christians, but I suppose that's a topic for another thread.)