Police chief who led response to Michigan synagogue attack inundated with threats

The police chief who led the response to the attack on a Michigan synagogue this month says in a briefing with Jewish security officials that he has been inundated with threats.

The sheriff of the Oakland County police, Michael Bouchard, says he has been subject to some 330,000 hostile messages, including violent statements.

The comments come on social media and via direct messages, Bouchard says during a briefing hosted by the Secure Community Network, a US Jewish security group.

Bouchard plays a recording of a voice message he received in which a caller derides him as a “Jew lover.”

“I hope you put a gun in your mouth and kill yourself,” the caller says.

Social media shows a flood of messages portraying Bouchard, who is not Jewish, as an Orthodox Jew, with a Star of David on his forehead, alongside antisemitic rhetoric.

“It’s rampant out there and apparently we struck a nerve with a lot of folks,” Bouchard says. “We’re in an environment I’ve never seen and I’ve been in this business for a very long time.”

Jewish groups applauded Bouchard for his handling of the attack.

“If you target our Jewish community, we’re going to stand in front of them to protect them,” Bouchard says in the briefing, adding that he takes his commanders to a Holocaust center for education.

He says the role of Nazi police officers in rounding up Jews during the Holocaust is a “chilling reminder” of where antisemitism can lead.

“You get there by tolerating it, by accepting it,” he says.

During the briefing, Jewish and non-Jewish security leaders, including US Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Matthew Kozma, repeatedly warn about the high threat level against American Jews.

The security officials urge vigilance, security precautions and coordination with law enforcement to protect against the threats.