If You See Something, Say Something

Contrary to the typical American kid, Getting help in case of emergency was a different experience.

Growing up in the strong Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park, Brooklyn, 911 was not a number that I grew up with. With all these volunteer organizations surrounding us, like Hatolah, Shomrim, Chaveirim etc. which in most cases had a faster response time and spoke Yiddish, which was my first language, I had no need to call the cities Police or Ambulance Service.

As I got older, calling 911 was never a part of me and I never dialed it till that incident.

Motzei Pessech, after finally getting all the Pessech stuff packed away and my mother was getting ready to cook for Shabbos ( Pessech Ended on a Thursday that year) I ran to the grocery store to buy food, as I reached the intersection, I decided to sprint across even though the light was green and there were cars coming but what I did not notice was the fact that the car approaching was a police car that had to abruptly break in order not to hit me.

As I reached the other side of the street safely the  officer riding in the car jumped out and grabbed me from behind, What did you thing your doing, he screamed at me red faced didn’t you see the light was green, I could have almost killed you…

after stammering my apology the officer calmed down and asked me for identification, since I was barely sixteen years old and had no drivers licence or credit cards I had nothing on me that would be considered as a valid ID and I told him so, but being fully bearded and tall for my age the officer did not buy my story and was ready to haul me into the station.

Baruch Hashem I lived close by and was able to convince him that he should take me home to my parents and they would convince him that I am telling the truth, and it worked B”H.

I was pretty shook up by that ordeal, why did the cop treat me like a common criminal? all I did was run across the street when cars were passing, and although I later learned that this was in fact illegal, but still, come on.

Years later I came across an interesting article in the Daily News that answered my questions.

The news was reporting on the new subway laws that went into affect recently, and although it was mostly bashing the mayor regarding the strict laws imposed on Subway riders, like getting fined for putting your bags on a empty seat although the train was empty, it still recognized one interesting fact, that over 70 percent of the people that were stopped for crossing from one car to the other, which is just a misdmeaner, had outstanding warrants out for them for much harsher crimes.

And then it hit me, the most effective police work, is not letting the opportunity pass by. If an officer stops a person for any minor reason, he should ask for ID, it just takes an extra moment to check and the results can be big.

The TV show ‘Americas most wanted’ that resulted in countless arrests, and the ‘Ambler Alert’ program that significantly helped countless children, are just a few of the many programs that prove that by passive police work allot could be accomplished (passive, because it relies on the common citizen to do the work for them).

So now days, when I see something, I say something.

Even things that could mean nothing to you, and it you can just walk or drive by and never think twice about it, stop for a second and think if it might be important to others. just pick up the phone and call it in and let the police decide if they could use it.