Crime-prevention group Guardian Angels patrols Monsey following Hanukkah stabbing

The Guardian Angels crime-prevention group is patrolling Monsey Sunday following the stabbing on Hanukkah that injured five people.

News 12 Staff

Jan 12, 2020, 4:10 PM

Updated 1,778 days ago

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The Guardian Angels crime-prevention group is patrolling Monsey Sunday following the stabbing on Hanukkah that injured six people.
The international volunteer organization has been preventing crime for decades. The Guardian Angels is a private and unarmed group founded by Curtis Sliwa in 1979. He says they had already began patrolling in other areas with large Jewish populations like Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn.
"We're now in 13 countries and 130 cities,” says Sliwa. “So we know how to set up a safety patrol involving citizens.”
Sliwa says he wants to train local residents to be Guardian Angels and how to be on citizen patrol, and also wants to train Jewish residents in self-defense.
"As individuals, they have to learn how to fight back,” says Sliwa. “They must know self-defense because a vigilant community means anti-Semites will not come in here and prey on your people."
In fact, community member Josef Gluck serves as a role model in this realm. Gluck has been honored for fighting back during the Hanukkah attack, throwing his body in front of the machete-wielding man in Monsey.
Gluck used a wooden table to stop the assault. After luring the attacker outside, Gluck memorized the attacker's license plate number and alerted police, leading to his arrest.
Members of the Jewish community tell News 12 they hope they can learn defense tactics to protect themselves and their community.