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Y2K hate-crime fears spur police into action: Security tightened for public facilities

By Sam Stanton and Gary Delsohn Bee Staff Writers (Published Nov. 15, 1999)

With police agencies nationwide already gearing up for potential Y2K-related outbreaks of violence, the anti-government and hate groups that have spawned much of the New Millennium fears appear to be achieving a large part of their goals.

Elaborate plans are being made to safeguard suspected targets of domestic terror groups in anticipation of violence on or around New Year's Eve, while religious leaders and others have been warned to take extraordinary precautions.

The result of such actions, coupled with this year's spate of violent hate crimes -- including arsons at three Sacramento-area synagogues last June -- has generated a climate of fear that hate groups strive to create.

In Sacramento, rabbis are being urged to keep a low profile, and churches and synagogues are being outfitted with new security gear.

Water treatment plants, propane tanks and dams are getting special attention from government agencies as January approaches.

Law-enforcement officials say privately that in the days before and after New Year's Eve people with militia or hate-group ties who find themselves arrested on traffic warrants or other minor charges can expect trouble getting back on the streets quickly.

And authorities insist that although they have no evidence of real threats to the area, they are taking no chances because of the climate of hate and fear that exists in the region.

"We've been spending the last six months on this," said Sacramento City Manager Bob Thomas. "We are opening our joint command center with the county at La Sierra (Community Center). All of our police and fire people have been told no vacations except for extraordinary circumstances.

"We're putting our police on 12-hour shifts and will have 100 city employees on 12-hour shifts New Year's Eve and for four or five days or until we cancel it because the need isn't there."

Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas said his agency also has canceled all New Year's week vacations and is putting its deputies on 12-hour shifts around that holiday.

"You never know how serious the threat is, but you've got to prepare for the worst," he said. "There are a lot of unknowns out there, and the critical period is a few days after New Year's just because of the potential for computer glitches and things like that."

Concerns over computer problems that may stem from the change of calendar to the year 2000 have been addressed by government agencies for several years now, but the potential for even minor disruptions in electrical service or water supply has authorities concerned.

"If such breakdowns do occur, these may be interpreted as a sign by some of the militias that electricity is being shut off on purpose in order to create an environment of confusion," warned a new FBI report on the problem.

"In the paranoid realizations of these militia groups, this atmosphere of confusion can only be a prelude to the dreaded (New World Order/) One World Government. These groups may then follow through on their premeditated plans of action."

The FBI, in its Project Megiddo report on the potential for Y2K-related problems, cautioned in a recent meeting with police chiefs from around the nation that there is no real way to predict whether violence will occur.

But, the bureau added, the potential is definitely real, and some of the groups that most worry federal agents have been extremely active in Northern California in recent months.

"Certain individuals from these various perspectives are acquiring weapons, storing food and clothing, raising funds through fraudulent means, procuring safe houses, preparing compounds, surveying potential targets and recruiting new converts," the FBI said.

Among the potential problem groups is the Christian Identity movement, which law-enforcement officials and hate-group experts say is particularly active in Northern California.

The movement, which espouses a "religion" that holds whites to be superior to all other races, has attracted numerous followers and "ministers" throughout the region, and its philosophy is similar to that espoused by Benjamin Matthew Williams, the accused killer of two Redding-area gay men and the prime suspect in Sacramento's synagogue arsons last summer.

But the problem authorities have in identifying such groups -- and then determining which members might have real potential for violence -- is heightened by the fact that much of the recent hate violence that has plagued the country has been by loners who apparently acted independently.

Benjamin Smith's July 4 weekend shooting spree in the Midwest, Buford Furrow Jr.'s alleged attack on a Jewish day-care center and killing of a Los Angeles-area postal worker and the July 1 slayings of the gay couple near Redding all are believed to be the acts of people acting on their own.

But with the widespread concern over Y2K, potential targets are having to grapple with whether to lower their public profiles in the coming weeks and police agencies are working to identify them and find discreet ways in which to protect them.

In Sacramento, police and sheriff's officials will open the command center around New Year's at La Sierra Community Center, where they will be able to quickly dispatch help to any area needing it.

However, there still is confusion in some areas over what preparations are under way. For instance, Sacramento police spokesman Glenn Graves said last week that the department is not treating this New Year's Eve any differently than a typical holiday. But City Manager Thomas said intensive millennium plans have been in the works for some time.

And although officials say they are not planning on asking potential targets to go into hiding, they are hopeful that they will remain aware of the potential for danger.

Rabbi Brad Bloom of B'nai Israel, one of the Sacramento synagogues targeted by arsonists, has spoken out consistently against hate crimes and extremists since the arsons. He is one of those making the choice about how visible to be in the coming weeks.

"There is reason to be concerned," Bloom said. "Rabbis who speak out are always potential targets. Anyone who challenges the evil in the world is a potential target no matter what the situation is."

But Bloom, who called the proliferation of hate crimes one of the most pressing issues facing Americans in the new millennium, is not inclined to lie low.

He has been to Washington twice to participate in various anti-hate-crime efforts, once to lobby for tougher laws at the request of the White House and another time to participate in a prayer breakfast on the subject. Most recently, he said he was interviewed for an hour by NBC as part of a broadcast on the subject scheduled to air Dec. 15.

"I get nervous about it when I think I am a potential target," Bloom said. "But people much greater than I have been willing to protest and risk their lives for civil rights. This is the least I can do."

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), November 15, 1999

Answers

"Law-enforcement officials say privately that in the days before and after New Year's Eve people with militia or hate-group ties who find themselves arrested on traffic warrants or other minor charges can expect trouble getting back on the streets quickly."

So much for equal treatment under the law blah blah blah..

"But the problem authorities have in identifying such groups -- and then determining which members might have real potential for violence -- is heightened by the fact that much of the recent hate violence that has plagued the country has been by loners who apparently acted independently"

So, the problem, as I understand it, is that they are having trouble cracking down on these groups because these groups haven't done anything wrong. Damn our luck!

-- Pete (pberry1_98@yahoo.com), November 15, 1999.

Kinda makes you not want to have an unpaid traffic ticket...

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), November 15, 1999.

"Safe houses"...does that mean my place in the country?

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), November 15, 1999.

"You never know how serious the threat is, but you've got to prepare for the worst," he said. "There are a lot of unknowns out there, and the critical period is a few days after New Year's just because of the potential for computer glitches and things like that."

You might think he was talking about y2k itself, but he's not. He's talking about those who prepare for y2k!

-- (GetOutOfJail@free.duh), November 15, 1999.