Increased security measures around Jewish community buildings and organisations in the wake of the Paris attacks have gone largely unnoticed, according to a poll conducted for the JC.
Despite the ongoing, unprecedented level of cooperation between police forces and Jewish security groups, the expanded patrols appear not to have registered with the community.
Fifty-eight per cent of British Jews said they had not noticed an increased police presence in their area.
The figure supports ongoing concerns among some synagogue-goers, parents of pupils at Jewish schools, and customers at kosher stores over the levels of policing and security.
The poll, conducted by Survation on Tuesday and Wednesday, asked 939 British Jews whether they had seen an increased police presence in their area in the past couple of weeks.
A higher level of policing had been noticed by 40 per cent of those asked. Two per cent said they did not know.
The security operation to protect the community continued this week, with the Community Security Trust and volunteers from the Shomrim group working closely with constabularies across the country.
There has been a particular focus on Jewish schools, with headteachers working to reassure parents about the additional measures being implemented.
Patrick Moriarty, head of JCoSS in Barnet, north London, said anxiety levels were so high that parents had been involved in angry exchanges on Facebook over the extent of the threat. He wrote to parents in an effort to “calm the nerves”.
Pupils have been practising emergency drills, but Mr Moriarty said evacuation routines had been established prior to the Paris atrocities.
“We are a secondary school so our students know exactly what we are doing.
“Our staff and pupils know we have their back.”
At Sinai Jewish Primary School in Kenton, north west London, headteacher Robert Leach said staff would be practising “intruder” drills with pupils.
Schoolchildren as young as five had been preparing for an attack by playing a version of the game “sleeping lions”, involving them lying still on the floor to avoid detection, he said.
Plans for children from Finchley United Synagogue to visit Disneyland in Paris during half-term have been cancelled due to apprehension.
CST communications director Mark Gardner said drills at Jewish schools had been introduced 20 years ago but were “refined and updated wherever possible and necessary, and are conducted by schools as they deem appropriate.
“We have reminded all communal venues, including schools, to review and implement security measures at this time, but there has been no message instructing schools to rehearse any specific drill.”
He said police had increased reaction times to emergency calls and requests for assistance from the Jewish community.
Greater Manchester Police said it was reviewing its response to security concerns, including in areas with large Jewish populations, but said there was no specific threat in the city.
A false alarm raised tension in Golders Green, north west London, on Tuesday, after reports of men in a car taking notes outside kosher shops.
Text messages and social media posts including the car’s registration number were sent by concerned community members seeking to alert others.
But a police investigation found there was nothing suspicious about the vehicle which was being driven by a local pensioner.
Barnet police, CST and Shomrim all said people should remain vigilant but calm.
