On Monday, Sept. 23 New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin held an event at the War Memorial in Trenton with county prosecutors, interfaith leaders and other local, state and federal officials to highlight the preparations by the New Jersey law enforcement community in advance of the high holidays.

The event featured speeches by Platkin, Rabbi Joel Friedman, chaplain for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s and Sheriff’s Offices, and Maude Dahme, Holocaust survivor and former president of the New Jersey Board of Education.

In his remarks, Platkin said that “while there are no clear threats, law enforcement is prepared and has been preparing for heightened security posture around the high holidays.”

He added: “Unfortunately, as is nationwide, bias incidents are on the rise in New Jersey. Preliminary data shows that in 2023, New Jersey had 2,699 reported bias incidents, the highest number we’ve seen since we started tracking them. Through the end of August, there had been 1,792 bias incidents reported in 2024. That’s 9% higher than the same point one year earlier.”

The Attorney General shared that his office has issued guidance for K-12 schools and for colleges and universities on preventing, addressing and responding to bias incidents. His office provides free trainings on different anti-bias topics to members of the public. In the spring, his office launched a new bias data dashboard that gives the public access to comprehensive bias statistics across New Jersey. The public dashboard is searchable and interactive and provides visual displays of data related to reports of bias incidents. To access the dashboard, visit
https://www.njoag.gov/biasdata/

Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes reader feedback. He is grateful to Sharon Lauchaire, Communications Director in the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, for all her assistance with this story.