Crime fighter Gary Shapiro honored by local Jewish cop group

There was no safer place to be on this crisp Fall Sunday morning than Great Neck Synagogue. Top police brass from Nassau County Police Department, police union leadership, elected officials, and ‘everything law enforcement ‘came out in droves on Nov. 6 to honor the Nassau County Shomrim Society’s Man of the Year, Detective Lieutenant Gary Shapiro, at their annual breakfast.

A twenty-five year veteran of the Nassau County Police Department and a 1999 graduate of the FBI National Academy of Police, Det. Lt Shapiro currently serves as the Commanding Officer of the Community Affairs Office, and oversees the Police Activity League (PAL). The past president of the National Conference of Shomrim Societies, as well as the local Nassau Chapter, Shapiro is the Department’s Bias Crimes Coordinator and is responsible for producing the widely acclaimed 2009 video, “Hate – Crossing the Line”. The video, which has won numerous film awards, has been distributed to every Junior and Senior High School in Nassau County and is in constant demand across the U.S., Canada, and as far away as Australia.

The Shomrim Society was founded in 1937 to promote the religious spirit of Jewisho fficers, as well as to develop good will in the community. On this Sunday before Election Day, despite a campaign year when utterances of police precinct closures have been bantered about countywide, the mood in the room was uplifting and consistent with Shomrim’s mission, the importance of community service was tantamount.

Following the presentation of a silver shofar by Shomrim president Lt. Saul Roth, Shapiro addressed the packed room. “It’s an honor to be a Nassau County Police Officer.“ He added that his role as a police officer is further enhanced by his ability to represent the Jewish faith while serving all communities. He spoke proudly of his father, an Army veteran and his sister, Julie, who was a captain in the Air Force and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm.

The Five Towns was well represented as Fourth Precinct Auxiliary Captain Danny Gluck, Auxiliary Sergeant David Spier, Retired Fourth Precinct Det. Lt Larry Feffer, P.O. and Shomrim Board member Shevy Berkowitz, Shomrim Board member and Woodmere native Sam Livingston and NCPD Chaplain Rabbi Dov Schwartz, a resident of North Woodmere, was in attendance to pay homage to Shapiro. Gluck noted that of the 38 Auxiliary units within Nassau County, the Fourth Precinct is the largest. He estimates his membership to be 85 percent Jewish, specifically Orthodox.

Shomrim Society President Lt. Saul Roth, assigned to the Fourth Precinct, expressed that membership in Shomrim has special significance to him. Growing up without formal Jewish affiliation, Roth said that the Shomrim Society affords him a sense of connection to Yiddishkeit. He is looking forward to his first trip to Israel in April, together with colleagues from the NYPD Shomrim.