Shomrim of Baltimore Dispatcher Honored by San Francisco Police

Shomrim of Baltimore member Yitzy Schleifer received a certificate of appreciation from the San Francisco Police Department.

The certificate, shared with Pikesville Patch by the group's president Ronnie Rosenbluth, was for his work last month—during Chanukah—when he helped San Francisco police find a woman and her children who were trapped in a storage unit in that California jurisdiction.

"In deepest gratitude for your outstanding performance of duty in helping an individual in San Francisco who was trapped in a lock storage facility with her children," the certificate, signed by Chief of Police Gregory P. Suhr, states.

"Such an example of dedication is worthy of the highest esteem by the City of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department."

Schleifer has said he doesn't know why the woman in San Francisco called Shomrim's hotline—410-358-9999—for help. It may have been a mistake, he said.

But, Schleifer, a member of the all-volunteer group that patrols the neighborhoods and helps find missing people in the northwest Baltimore, Upper Park Heights, Pikesville and Greenspring areas, helped coordinate the search effort from thousands of miles away.

He contacted the San Francisco Police Department, spoke with the mostly Spanish-speaking, trapped woman to get information on where she might be, and helped police locate and rescue her.

The fact that Schleifer stayed on the phone with the woman and helped her, rather than deferring her to 911, shows his dedication, Rosenbluth has said.