Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY - Cops And Hasidim Have A Checkered History
Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY - The relationship between the Hasidim of Borough Park and the police who serve them at times seems bipolar.
The 66th Precinct that serves the community is jokingly referred to as "Fort Surrender" among veteran cops, implying politically connected Chasidim can call in a favor anytime one of their own gets into trouble. Residents, on the other hand, have occasionally accused the precinct of overly aggressive tactics.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg denied that Borough Park is given any special treatment by the NYPD. "We're not insensitive to every community, not just this community," Bloomberg said. "We would do the same thing with every community. "But we cannot tolerate what happened in the streets," the mayor said, referring to the fires set and police cars vandalized Tuesday night when officers issued a summons to an elderly driver for talking on his cell phone.
Actually, the street-level anger pales in comparison to the 1978 riot sparked by the pre-dawn robbery and stabbing death of Irving Sussman, 65, as he walked home from a synagogue. In that incident, an estimated 2,000 Hasidim, claiming police took almost an hour to respond to reports of the murder, raced to the 66th Precinct. By the time the 30-minute battle had ended, 62 cops had been assaulted and some equipment was destroyed when some in the mob forced their way into the station house. Six of the rioters suffered minor injuries and several were arrested.
posted by VOS IZ NEIAS @ 4/06/2006 09:04:00 AM
4 Comments:
At 9:27 AM,
VOS IZ NEIAS said…
Opinion by Columnist
Favoritism, anti-Semitism and the truth
The trouble in Brooklyn between the Hasidic community and the police brings us to the point of discussing yet another episode of unrest. It also pushes us smack-dab into the complex subject of favoritism toward Jews or that old favorite, anti-Semitism.
Well, which is it? Is the Jewish community treated too well, too harshly or neither? Reality is far more complicated than convenient stereotypes would suggest.
Some will always sneer that everyone knows that Jews get away with almost anything in New York because of their money and political power. Such people will point at the cops who are hopping mad because there were only a few arrests, even after protesting Hasidic Jews set fire to garbage in the street. There is the feeling that a decision was made to go easy on them, something that would not have happened in Spanish Harlem or black Harlem or East New York or ... you get the point.
One cop says that whenever a new officer comes on the force, the unwritten law of where and when you can use force is made clear, usually in whispers. "You find out," says an officer, "that there is less risk if you crack open a black man's head or have to rough up some guy with a Spanish last name. Neither one of them might be 'connected,' and being connected to someone in power is the name of the game."
Such stories persist - as do others that foment distrust on the flip side of the ledger.
Some veteran black cops will say, off the record, that they know Jewish cops who have bumped up against prejudice within the NYPD. That is why they are not represented near the top in the kinds numbers that Irish and Italian cops are. Hmm.
And lest we accept the favoritism line, hook, line and sinker, some will remind us that being Jewish is no guarantee that you will not be shot down like a dog. Recall the mentally ill Gidone Busch, who, while wielding a hammer, was fired upon 12 times by police. The accused police officers were acquitted.
Beyond the suspicions, the stereotypes and the counterstereotypes, what we have is a big fat mess in which the cops are accused of using excessive force to arrest an older Jewish man who officers claim was talking on a cell phone while driving and refused to come along quietly. Two other men who put in their two cents worth were also arrested. Then the anger spilled into the streets.
We will get through it, but few of the people who the police feel should have been arrested will end up behind bars. Perhaps that is less about money and power than it is about having uncharacteristic unrest in a typically quiet community. If that is the case, the neighborhood was allowed to slide for a relatively good reason.
It is hard to tell when and if simplistic false impressions will give way to complex realities. We can be sure, however, that it will be a long time before many give up the notion that Jewish lives get special treatment, regardless of what laws are broken. I think that is a crock, but it is too well-loved an assumption for many to surrender - regardless of all evidence to the contrary.
At 11:01 AM,
Anonymous said…
http://wcbstv.com/video/?cid=48
At 12:59 PM,
Anonymous said…
Were the police right? Probably not, but I was not there to see what happened.
However, what I do know is that the response from the Boro Park community was a groise, aboninable Chilul Hashem. Arabs act this way, not frum yidden, and especially not chassidim. What happened here, and why have we fallen to such a level? Look at the problems in Satmar and Bobov. What do we have to do to bring the kedusha back into our midst? Why can't everyone just get along?
At 1:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
I think that our so-called frum boys have been watching too much and have been on the internet and involved in stuff much more than we would like, and much more than we thought. There is a major, underlining problem here. Aidel chassidishe boys are not supposed to flair up, and i mean that literally, bec. of a small arrest. The fact that within minutes of the policeman being on the avenue, there was slashing of tires, looting of police radioes, and bullying and calling names, is symbolic of the fact that the boys have been waiting for action, and were prepared for it. Now, what would nice, frum, heimishe boys be doing all day? you might assume, learning. well, they are obviously not. Not to say that boys will be boys and they love action, but their actions are one for blacks in crown heights, or even arabs in israel, not our pride and joy of our community. Can you explain why state troopers had to be called onto 16th Ave, spraying mace, shooting their guns in the air and threatening to shoot people if they don't disperse? I say our boys have a lot to work on themselves if they hope to get married. I am not at all defending New York's finest. They acted in a despicable manner, and have degraded themselves in the eyes of NY citizens. HOWEVER, they are goyim, whereas we are Hashem's chosen nation. Is this the way to behave? Is this the way we make a kiddush Hashem? Will Mashiach feel like coming in such a society as selfish and low as ours? At this time, more then ever, our Rabbanim, if they may be even called that, should unite as one, and confront the problems in our community, and with an iron fist, smooth out the sicknesses that have come upon us.
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