Flatbush, NY – What’s stronger than Samson, as big as Mount Sinai and 100 percent kosher?
It’s the massive, new $250,000 mobile security command center that an Orthodox Jewish civilian neighborhood patrol in Brooklyn has gotten to add some righteous power to its watchdog group.
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“It’s fully equipped for us to respond to any type of disaster,” said Chaim Deutsch, 40, founder of the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol, a civilian crime-fighting group.
The 40-member Shomrim patrol’s newest road warrior is a 2008 Ford, custom-built in Ohio and outfitted to survive Armageddon.
Similar to official NYPD command centers, the Shomrim tank has everything from computers and a color copier to a powerful toilet incinerator that can turn solid waste to ash.
“You could pretty much live in it,” Deutsch said.
At 22 feet long, it also has a conference room, a fax machine, a flat panel television and a state-of-the-art communications system.
There’s a portable defibrillator for medical emergencies, and a kitchen with running water and a coffee maker.
It’s cutting-edge, right down to a generator powerful enough to run a family home.
About the only drawback is the gas mileage — only six mpg.
The $250,000 price tag was paid with hefty grants from the City Council and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, said Deutsch.
It’s used for everything from finding missing children and aiding elderly residents to crime prevention, and it’s on standby around the clock.
The command center was recently rolled out and parked on a residential street in Midwood to help combat a spate of house break-ins and harassment of local youths.
Shomrim, which means “watchers” in Hebrew, was first established about 25 years ago in Williamsburg, at a time when there was a high crime rate and a need to protect the close-knit Brooklyn Hasidic community.
The group grew and spawned three offshoot groups, patrolling Flatbush, Crown Heights and Borough Park. However, the Flatbush Shomrim is the only one with a state-of-the-art command center, Deutsch said.
“We serve as the eyes and ears of the Police Department,” he explained. “We’re not cops, we’re not police. We are here and ready to do anything else up to the point of going into a dangerous situation. We leave that to law enforcement.”
….and completely unnecessary.
mi k’amcho yisroel. we should never need their assisstance but it’s a good feeling to know they are around.
Very nice. B’hatzlocha!
I hope this van is shared with not only the other shomrim groups, but hatzola and all organizations that may need it.
flatbush leaves it on the street and they get ruined and vandalized. same like the old one. They need to take better car of this one. The other one had flat tires for months.
And in the meantime . . .
. . . the schools don’t have enough money to pay teachers, the yeshivas can only serve crackers and cucumbers, bachurim are on the streets “frying out,” families don’t have parnassa while the well-connected enjoy their pursuits and luxuries and self-righteous agendas.
what is shomrim’s phone number?
#9 , what do you mean by “your right on the money?” What does shomrim getting funding for this command center have to do with people not having enough money, or teachers not getting paid?? shomrim is a wonderful organization, does much good for the community. Just yesterday I saw them help out with a hachnosas sefer torah procession! They help find lost kids, or elderly alzeimer patients. They search homes when mothers are scared to go in because they think there is a ganif inside. I tip my hat to them they are doing a great job!! Chaim Deutch, keep up your fantastic work!!!! And to all shomrim memebers! WE APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DO!!! ( on your own time and you guys dont get paid a penny for it!!)
it is needed very much this is one of the best orgenazations in brooklyn
This is such a waste of public funds and typical of how we have been throwing money at these types of “toys” since 9/11. Yiddese first responder groups are not different than goyishe groups in wanting to get their “fair share” of the goodies from the goverment feeding troth. We are dying in NYC with the high taxes we pay and lousy service. There are already enough of the high tech emergency vehicles and another one for yidden shows that we are just as gluttonous about sucking away at the public troth as any other group.
I understand the concept and purpose of Shomrim.
Someone please explain to me why Shomrim needs a quarter of a million dollar command center paid for the the City of New York???
Crown Heights Shomrim could us one!
“let’s say chas vesholem the terorist would of sucseed last week you need one of those I understand the police have one but there is something in a yid what he will do more then the Ems and Nypd so just give them credit for this”
Really? Exactly what would this trailor house have done?
what a waste…they do great things for the community by helping to keep the streets safer but there is no need for the city council to allocate 250k to a command center. that money could be better spent on numerous things. shomrim is not the first line of defense. credit chaim for pulling this off. this shows he is very well politically connected to secure this amount of money in tough economic times for “civilian patrol”
Interesting. Does this mean more security for our children or will we still let pedophiles roam 13th ave
is this for all the bored hackers to hang out in
Its very nice that our community has all kinds of chesed organizations such as shomrim, chaverim, hartolah etc. but dont you think in a time when people all over the city and the country are losing their homes and getting fired should we be bragging about how marty markowitz gave us a 250k toy? someone please explain this to me
FSSP does a great job and is an inspiration to other Shomrim groups throughout the country. Keep up the good work and stay safe.
Whatever you say about low lying areas is total BS, boropark is high ground.
And what exactly will the truck do? The people will all be busy with there families in time of disaster. The hatzulah needs it for their party. Perhaps shomrim is planning a party, so they need this coomand center. Otherwise its totally unneeded, and only a place where the knackers can sit and kulits while the real shomrim are running around, trying to chap the ganev.
Without judging this particular vehicle / command center, I’ll tell you that I was surprised several years ago to hear how much our local police precints have come to count on Shomrim. The police were keeping an eye on a property that had been broken into several times. The lieutenant on the burglary squad told me that he was off for several days, and his department would be short staffed over an upcoming holiday weekend. He was going to alert Shomrim to be aware of what had been happening at this location so they could keep an extra eye on it.
Shomrim is not only “ours”. They have become an integral part of the City, often forcing the police to work harder, or at least not slack off, because they keep on top of so much of what is going on all around us.
This is a great idea, and the work that these shomrim do is fantastic and they deserve credit for it.
However, spending tax-payer money on a “mobile command center” that belongs to a private group and is not the property of the actual tax-payers is WRONG. It is a disgrace that we should expect everyone else in the city to pay for our shomrim. If we needed a “mobile command center” we should have raised the money to buy one. The tax payers should never have to pay for anything that is the sole property of a private organization.
That being said, I wish them much success with their new MCC and I do hope that it helps them to improve the community for everyone… both yidden and goyim.
Why does SHomrim need a $250k van when they are not even armed. The extent of their arms is a Radio Shack walkie talkie.
Both the NYPD, NYFD and the Mayor’s Office have mobile command centers. If all of them and the Shomrim MCC show up at the scene of a disaster R’L, whose mobile command center has kadima?
Hatzolah of Boro Park’s mobile command center was donated by a woman who insisted they purchase a command center. She refused to give money for any other cause even for a new ambulance.
While I agree that Shomrim does a fine job considering the circumstances, I sincerely can’t think of a good enough reason to justify such a huge expense.
But hey, it don’t bother me 🙂
I would like to see comments of residents like myself instead of some jealous bashers, You will and should never know ALL they do, believe me I have asked for their help before and can’t thank them enough. I strongly believe that every penny is going to good cause. When we say “Kol Mi Sh’Oskim B’Tzorchei Tzibur B’Emunah” without a doubt you can have them in mind. To the people asking what can they do more then the police department and other city agencies? The answer is alot. There are a number of situations that requires immediate action from your own community vs the city agencies, there is a procedure that might take longer, low key, understanding of our brothers or neighbors. I can go on forever, but there is no need. The Flatbush residents know exactly what I am talking about. Again, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly say “Thank you” and Chazak V’amatz.
This waste is purely for bragging rights. Every argument in favor of it on this page DOES NOT SAY WHY IT IS NEEDED!! All arguments talk about why shomrim is needed. Fine. But why is a $250,000 command center needed over say…9 patrol cars?