![]() Bnos Sanz officials discuss security options
Jacob Kamaras THE JEWISH STATE June 5, 2009
During weekly meetings since April's fire at Bnos Sanz in Union City, officials at the Hassidic girls' school continue to mull several options to enhance security and make sure the community isn't caught off-guard by future attacks. Police are still searching for the two young adult males who set fire to a desk outside the school's basement door April 22. The men entered through a broken fence whose access was controlled by a metal gate that was left unlocked, and surveillance footage revealed that they ran away immediately without entering the building. Bnos Sanz officials are discussing the possibility of installing an upgraded surveillance system as well as adding an exterior alarm system to the building's current interior one. While Union City repaired the portion of the gate that was broken into on the day after the attacks, the school is looking into constructing a new gate around the entire facility. No plans for additional security have been finalized yet, as officials said they are still undergoing a thorough cost-benefit analysis for the proposed measures. "We always talk about keeping open eyes," Union City Hatzolah Director Moshe Schwartz, who attends the school meetings, said last week. "Everybody wants better security, but we need to figure out the best way to do it. It should be affordable and available." Solomon Nussenzweig, a supervisor at Bnos Sanz, previously told The Jewish State that a new system of surveillance cameras would cost the school between $20,000 and $50,000. Ever since the fire, the all-girls school's site at 3300 New York Ave. has been designated as an "Increased Patrol Location" by the Union City Police Department, meaning that an officer visits the area as frequently as once an hour as opposed to the random checking that normally takes place. "[The police] keep on checking up on our location," Nussenzweig said last week. "We are more relaxed because they have a closer eye on us." After several early leads did not pan out during the investigation of the fire, Union City Police have resorted back to "good, old fashioned" techniques such as canvassing the area and questioning confidential informants, Lieutenant William Peer said. "You never know where a break in a case comes from," Peer said. The Klausenburg-Sanz Hassidim, primarily based out of Netanya in Israel and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, have lived in Union City for more than 40 years. The community contains about 200 families, with 200 girls from nursery through 8th grade at Bnos Sanz as well as 150 boys from 1st to 12th grade at Mesivta Sanz. City and school officials have described a generally peaceful relationship between the Klausenburg-Sanz community and the rest of Union City, and are hopeful that an incident like April's fire isn't repeated anytime soon. "Everything is quiet already, and we just hope something like this doesn't happen again," Nussenzweig said. |