Founded in 1991 as a crime-fighting organization, Flatbush Shomrim today is “a resource for everything and anything that is not medical,” said Chaim Deutsch, founder and president of Flatbush Shomrim.

The 40-member group mediates domestic disputes, helps parents experiencing trouble with their teenage children, searches for missing persons, saves children locked in cars – and, of course, fights crime. Shomrim maintains a 24-hour hotline.

“We’re a community organization that is dedicated to the safety and security of the community, both within and without,” said Charles Scharf, a Shomrim coordinator who deals mostly with domestic violence issues and “problem teenagers.”

Scharf remembers one incident where a man in the midst of a messy divorce demanded that his wife allow him entry to their home so that he could remove some of his belongings. Fearful of her husband, she refused; he threatened to break down the door. Shomrim received a call over their hotline and Scharf soon arrived at the scene. He succeeded in calming both parties, and obtained their consent for him to accompany the husband into the house as he removed his items.

Scharf said that Shomrim does not take sides in domestic disputes and only intervenes if asked. “Blood is boiling. … Our objective is to calm them down, stabilize the situation, and let them work it out.” Often, Shomrim then refer such couples to local persons and organizations designed to help them.

Scharf said community members often prefer to call them rather than the police because, as members of the same community, they feel they can trust them. “What happens there [in homes with problems] stays there,” Scharf said. “We don’t schmooze about it over the Shabbos table.”

Fighting crime in the community, the organization’s original raison d’etre, is still an integral part of Shomrim. “Crime was rampant in the 1980s,” Deutsch recalls. He remembers one particular incident where he witnessed a criminal breaking into a car. “I was helpless,” Deutsch recalls. He called the police, but they arrived too late.

Today, Deutsch said, criminals are less prone to come to Flatbush, knowing that every night four or five Shomrim cars patrol the neighborhood. “We made 175 arrests in 2006,” Deutsch said. (The Shomrim members are allowed to make civilian arrests – which means they can hold someone until the police arrive.)

“Phenomenal” and “fantastic” are some of the adjectives that Police Inspector Thomas Harris of the 70th precinct uses to describe Shomrim. “They’re a very professional organization, and we work hand- in- hand with them.”

“There’s no finer man than Chaim Deutsch,” echoed Officer Lenny Wright, Inspector Harris’s aide.

Sometimes, the police even prefer to take a back seat to Shomrim, Scharf said. For instance, he said, five yeshiva boys in a park were once quarrelling with some other teenagers over their respective playing areas. Both the police and Shomrim arrived at the scene. When Scharf asked the police for five minutes with the boys before they got involved, they readily agreed.

Scharf approached the boys and told them they could either work something out right now with him or they could deal with the police. The boys soon resolved the matter. The police, Scharf said, were more than happy not to have to deal with possible arrests and reports to file.

Deutsch is proud of Shomrim’s work. He remembers an incident where a child was locked in a car during the summer in 100-degree weather. Shomrim was called and, with special equipment, quickly freed the child. “When you see the mother hugging the child, crying… you feel good about that. You feel good about reducing the crime rate, allowing kids to walk to school without fear.”

“I’m a family man. I understand when the quality of life is not good.”

(Article appeared in Jewish Press)