ShalomNewYork.com

For one day last week, sixteen-year-old Yosef Abrahamson, a black Chabad chassid from Omaha, Nebraska, was commanding officer of New York’s 71st precinct. He and 120 other teenagers were sworn in as temporary members of the New York City Police Department for writing winning essays on the topic: If you were Police Commissioner for a day, what steps would you take to reduce violent crime and protect all New Yorkers? Abrahamson studies in Yeshiva Darchai Menachem in Crown Heights, whose Jewish community has experienced a spark in hate crimes this past year. In his essay, Abrahamson said police should make “lesser crimes…just as important as the more violent crimes” and stop telling criminals, in effect, “behave and be nice and don’t do that again, and now run along…” JewishPress.com