Shomrim (volunteers) - Police Relations

Police Relations

Shomrim maintains a delicate working relationship with local police departments. Most volunteers are trained by local police, and Shomrim regularly shares its information on crime with officers.

The relationship is a sensitive one, however. Many residents of Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Stamford Hill tend to call Shomrim in an emergency rather than the police. Shomrim cites its faster response time, knowledge of the territory, and ability to speak Yiddish, the language of the Hasidic community, for the residents' preference. While the expectation is for Shomrim to notify police, this is done in some cases but not in others. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has publicly stated that Shomrim does not immediately notify police when a call comes in. This was highlighted in the 2011 missing-child case of Leiby Kletzky (see below): the first call by Kletzky's mother reporting her missing child was received by Brooklyn South Shomrim more than two hours before Kletzky's father called police. The Brooklyn South Shomrim explains that it does not always notify police immediately in cases of missing children, since it receives at least 10 such calls a day and is experienced in quickly locating children by searching candy stores, buses, and relatives' homes.

In Brooklyn, the civilian patrol has been accused of withholding information about suspected local child molesters. One Brooklyn South Shomrim member acknowledged to the press that they maintain a file of suspected local child molesters, and some believe that this file includes the suspects' photos and the make, model and license-plate number of their cars. But Shomrim does not share this information with police due to the Torah prohibition against mesirah (informing on a fellow Jew to the non-Jewish authorities). However, another high-ranking member claims that the other member was misquoted, and that the list that Brooklyn South Shomrim maintains is culled from the New York Sex Offender Registry. Members of the Williamsburg Shomrim always consult a rabbi before involving police in a crime committed by one Jew against another.

The founding of Shomrim organizations in North West London and Stamford Hill in 2008 initially met with disapproval by the London Metropolitan Police, which questioned the existence of a community patrol working in tandem with trained police officers and claimed they were endangering themselves. In 2009, a new borough commander in Hackney consulted with the New York Police Department to draw up a list of expectations for the volunteer patrol. The North West London Shomrim agreed to have its members undergo background checks and sign a code of conduct, and pledged to implement disciplinary measures for members who "act inappropriately". Today the Hackney borough commander commends Shomrim in its role as "evidence-gathers" and support for police activities.