Borough Park And Midwood Are Getting $1 Million In Security Cameras, Stirring Some Controversy

Borough Park and Midwood are getting $1 million in security cameras installed on its streets in the coming months, and some are questioning whether taxpayer money should be diverted to an area with low crime rates. Gothamist is reporting that Orthodox leaders like Assemblyman Dov Hikind are defending the installation in light of the 2011 abduction and murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky.

The money earmarked for security cameras in Borough Park and Midwood is being funneled to Agudath Israel, who according to Gothamist, is a Haredi umbrella organization that has a contract with SecurityWatch24, a private security firm. According to an Associated Press report, police and neighborhood groups would have access to the cameras only after a significant crime and only after a formal request is made to SecurityWatch24. What exactly Agudath Israel would be monitoring in the meantime is unknown.

Previously, we reported that the million dollar camera program, dubbed the Leiby Kletzky Security Initiative, came on the heels of Kletzky abduction in 2011. Hikind, who spearheaded the initiative, also attributed the need for cameras due to the prevalence of anti-Semitic crimes committed in his district.

“It’s not that we have more crime than another community, but being that it’s a Jewish area, there’s probably at least the potential for more anti-Semitic acts,” Hikind said.

The fact that Borough Park and Midwood crime rates are low relative to the rest of the city is rankling those who believe that taxpayer-funded security cameras should be installed in areas that really need them, like Bed-Stuy or Brownsville:

Tony Herbert, a longtime community advocate in Brooklyn, said that the resources were coming to Midwood and Borough Park and not the more crime-riddled areas of Brownsville or Bed-Stuy because their officials held more sway in Albany.

“It’s who you know and who you can get to pull the purse strings to come to your rescue. All we can do is jump up and down and make some noise to put a fire under the feet of our elected officials.”

In a Sheepshead Bites report, we noted that since 2004, $42 million had been set aside for cameras to be installed in various New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings but not a single camera has been installed in the subsequent nine years. In the meantime, a string of shootings and murders have plagued NYCHA complexes across the city. Yet Borough Park and Midwood have managed to receive funding and installation of such cameras in just two years.