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A person hurt during the recent violent incident at a synagogue in Manchester was working with the Community Security Trust, an organization credited for averting an more severe tragedy.

Recognizable Presence of Helpers

The appearance of helpers in the organization's hi-vis vests has become a familiar sight at Hebrew places of worship, schools, and other sites in the past few years.

Over many years, the group has also shaped government strategies by monitoring and fighting antisemitism, while additionally addressing hostility towards other communities.

Increasing Antisemitic Offenses

Over the past 24 months since the 7 October 2023 violence in Israel and the beginning of the war in Gaza, the organization's personnel has increased by approximately 33% against the backdrop of a rise in anti-Jewish crimes.

Based on Home Office figures, there were over three thousand religious hate crimes aimed at Jewish people in the year to March 2024, up from around 1,500 in the previous year.

Separate data from the organization itself, based on the number of anti-Jewish events notified to the charity, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of the current year.

Graph shows mean count of bias-motivated offenses logged per ten thousand people, grouped by the assumed faith of the victim.

Established Recording and Training

Although it attained charity status in the mid-1990s, the Community Security Trust and its predecessors have been recording and releasing anti-Jewish event figures in the UK since 1984.

Today, its activities include over a hundred members of staff and two thousand dedicated helpers who receive intensive training in subjects ranging from emergency medical care to carrying out security duties.

Although its members have been injured in the previous incidents, the severe injuries to one of its personnel in Manchester is considered the most serious to date.

Leadership Response and Protection Arrangements

"We pray for his continuing recovery and commend the bravery of all those who helped stop the attacker from getting into the synagogue," stated the CST’s chief executive.

The organization's deployment at sites often comprises a combination of its internal helpers, including educated members, as well as contracted protection officers.

Being a beneficiary of funding from the government, the trust distributes an £18m government grant that covers commercial security guards.

These resources were utilized last year at locations encompassing 200 childcare centers, two hundred sixty Jewish temples, and 50 high-profile community facilities.

The CST itself relies on contributions.

Broader Activities and Partnerships

Less visible is the trust's wider work in training, providing security guidance, and its established study into anti-Jewish sentiment from origins such as neo-Nazis and radical Islamists.

These efforts in this area have contributed to legal proceedings such as the imprisonment in 2021 of a individual who was at the time one of the UK’s most active far-right antisemitic online broadcasters.

National security forces were notified about his actions by the organization.

The non-profit also collaborates extensively with partners such as a national anti-Muslim hate monitoring project – the national project that records and tracks Islamophobic events in the UK, and which has referred to the CST’s work as "groundbreaking."

Both are in a formal partnership with other anti-prejudice groups as part of the CATCH partnership.

Additional Initiatives and Community Involvement

CST’s work, which different groups have utilized, also includes its manual for protective measures for places of worship.

Additionally, it runs customized youth street awareness programs for teenagers in conjunction with a sports and wellness charity, under the Streetwise GB programme.

Other work involves partnerships with the law enforcement and with elected officials, while it holds frequent meetings with government representatives and contributes to public strategies on antisemitism.

Although the trust serves the Jewish community, an organization called Shomrim also monitors antisemitism and works on behalf of Haredi Jewish groups.