BORO PARK – Last Thursday the NYPD arrested Jacob Daskal on charges of raping a 16 year old.
Besides the obviously horrendous crime, this arrest is a big deal because Daskal is the president of Boro Park Shomrim (“Guards”) – the private, Orthodox Jewish, security force that patrols Borough Park. There are other Shomrim groups that patrol Flatbush, Crown Heights and Williamsburg. They may easily be mistaken for the NYPD, and to many in the Orthodox Jewish enclaves in Brooklyn they effectively are.
Shomrim have a command centers that look like the NYPD’s, down to the slogan of Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect: