The Daily News reports that Crown Heights will be protected by a new community based watch group, formed by an alliance of black and Jewish residents in the community.   This effort will be an inclusive version of the already existing Shmira, a Jewish based community patrol group.  This new group has a trifold mission of easing tensions between the between the black and Jewish communities, ameliorating tensions between the Shmira and the police force, which have had clashes in the past over jurisdiction and authority, and reducing community crime. 

As many can attest, in Crown Heights the black and Jewish communities, the Jewish community and the police, and the police and the black community have at times endured strained relationships.   So this operation will either be medicinal or caustic.

The reality is that the economic downturn has made our streets more vulnerable to criminal activity. So, particularly with the budget cuts that have reduced the numbers of police on our streets, communities need to take a greater stake in policing themselves. If successful, this group may bring stability to the neighborhood. In that regard, the effort is laudable.

But with a history of explosive racial tension still within memory’s reach, can the effort indeed be successful? Undoubtedly, Crown Heights 2009 is not Crown Heights 1991. Since the now infamous riots, there have been a number of community groups, such as the Crown Heights Mediation Center, which have been formed out of the spirit and belief that harmony can exist between black and Jewish Crown Heights. This lends hope to the effort.

But there is also the other side. Will this give two communities, who despite efforts to the contrary, have not always been successful at just getting along, a state-backed license to exacerbate the tensions? Already, reports have come out that one of the Jewish leaders of the effort has a criminal record for assaulting a young black girl back in 1995. Read more here.

Fortunately, these community patrollors will be trained by the 71st Precinct.  The article does not detail what the training consists of, but at the very least, hopefully it includes race/religion sensitivity lessons.

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