The Israel Police has apprehended members of these patrols on assault charges and in some cases they have been sentenced to prison.
[4][5] According to Haaretz, some violent incidents attributed to modesty patrols may be linked to the Committee for Preserving Our Camp's Purity, a Haredi organization in Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Shpernovitz.
[6] During the trial of Nechemya Weberman in New York, on charges of child abuse, media sources reported on the communal role played by chasidic “modesty committees” in communities like Williamsburg, Borough Park and Kiryas Joel.
These groups were said to have originated years previously, and were set up to guard the “purity” of the community by enforcing strict dress and behavior codes that characterize the insular chasidic lifestyle.
But, according to The Jewish Week, 'insiders say, the tactics of these self-appointed, freelance modesty patrols have evolved from public shaming to extortion and threats.