Guardian Angels: Encyclopedia - Guardian Angels

Guardian Angels

The Guardian Angels is a non-profit community outreach and service organization with a primary focus on public safety. The organization was founded in New York City in 1979 by Curtis Sliwa and now operates throughout America as well as Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, the Philippines, and New Zealand. Curtis Sliwa originally created the organization to combat widespread violence and crime on the New York City subways. The organization trains members to make citizen’s arrests if they witness a serious crime occurring. This attracted both public praise and official criticism.

In the beginning, members were often arrested on allegations of harassment or public disorder but never convicted. Some argued that the Guardian Angels were naïve vigilantes causing more trouble than good. Others argued that they were effectively deterring crime and providing hope for a city then known as the crime capital of the world. At the time, New York City was suffering from huge debts and was broadly cutting back municipal services. The Guardian Angels instigated a deep social and political debate about the role of government and citizens in society. Following the rapid growth of the Guardian Angels in the early 1980’s, city governments have increasingly reached out to their citizens in search of public participation and involvement in their communities. Public involvement of this type has not been seen since World War II.

Curtis Sliwa also seemed to attract controversy through his aggressive and inflammatory style of speech. He was accused of being attracted to media attention and publicity stunts. In 1992, after berating the New York City mob on his radio talk show, he was shot in a cab by the mob. He accuses John Gotti, Jr. of masterminding the hit. Gotti went to trial in 2005 on racketeering charges and a charge of only kidnapping Sliwa. The trial ended with a deadlocked jury and will be retried.

Over the years, the Guardian Angels have sought to improve relations with city officials by working with them and increasing the level of their training to focus on safety and professionalism. By the middle of the 1990’s, the Guardian Angels were becoming increasingly accepted by city officials. Then-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had become the group’s most popular supporter. Unfortunately, as controversy, publicity, and novelty faded, the Guardian Angels faced greater challenges attracting new members.

Today, there is another debate about the success and relevance of the Guardian Angels. With so many citizens already volunteering and participating in their communities and government in addition to the lowest crime rates in decades, some argue that the Guardian Angels have succeeded in making themselves irrelevant. Others argue, however, that crime and public apathy still persists and increasingly in smaller American cities and to a much greater extent overseas. The Guardian Angels have established chapters in Rio De Janeiro and Cape Town, two of the most violence-plagued cities in the world, in Brazil and South Africa respectively. The Guardian Angels have also broadened their services to include youth programs, teacher programs, disaster response, an Internet safety program called the CyberAngels, self-defense courses, as well as community outreach addressing issues beyond crime.

The original and main Guardian Angels activity is the Safety Patrol in which members walk the streets or ride transit. They can be identified by their red berets and red jackets or white t-shirts with the Guardian Angels logo of an eye inside a shield with wings. Unlike most other non-profit services, the Guardian Angels attempt to reach out to the people on the streets who might not otherwise seek assistance or community services. Their goal is to address and help solve community problems on the streets by encouraging other citizens to become more involved. Since they are so visible with their red berets, criminals rarely commit crimes in their presence. The Safety Patrols therefore do not try to spend all their time making arrests but rather try to deter crime and build relations with people. The consistency of activity and professionalism varies from chapter to chapter since the organization does not receive any major funding and there is limited centralized organization. Chapters operate more like franchise networks supporting each other regionally. However, minimum standards of activity and professionalism are required and monitored to remain in operation.

The Guardian Angels is also an equal opportunity organization that encourages diversity. The organization does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political view, or sexual orientation. Since, the organization originated on the then-violent subways and streets of New York City, most early members tended to be young, toughened minorities from the ghettos. The organization, however, is becoming more diverse. Some may view the organization as conservative since Curtis Sliwa hosts a popular New York radio talk show on WABC where he usually favors populist conservative views. However, the organization emphasizes diversity and includes members all over the political spectrum including liberals, socialists, and libertarians.

The Guardian Angels’ philosophy of anti-violence, anti-crime, and diversity does bar anyone with a recent or serious criminal record, gang members, or members of racial hate groups. In order to join the Safety Patrol program, members must be at least 16 years old. Younger members are encouraged to participate in youth programs. Safety Patrol members are prohibited from carrying weapons. They are trained in basic first aid, CPR, law, conflict resolution, communication, and basic martial arts. Members are paired up and follow the directions of a Patrol Leader. Members, however, are allowed to do whatever they feel is lawful and necessary in case their lives are endangered or fear serious personal injury.

The element of danger is both a deterrent and attraction for membership. Two Guardian Angels have been murdered while on a Guardian Angels Safety Patrol. Frank Melvin was shot by a police officer in Newark, New Jersey in 1981. The officer alleged that Melvin was running toward his partner in a hostile manner. Juan Oliva was shot by a gang member in New York City in 1983. No Guardian Angel on a Safety Patrol has been killed since. It is argued the cause of these killings was unfamiliarity with the Guardian Angels organization and their intentions. Today, most police departments know the patrols are unarmed, and gangs do not view the Guardian Angels as a rival gang that is threatening to sell drugs on their turf. It is the goal of the Guardian Angels not to divide communities but bring all members of that community together especially those who are oppressed, disenfranchised, migrant, destitute, and discriminated against.

Guardian Angels - Guardian Angels worldwide

The Angels have grown massively in the years since their founding as thirteen people in the slums of New York City; they are now a worldwide, multi-national group.

Guardian Angels - Japan

A local organisation of the Guardian Angels was formed in Japan in 1996, which has a low violent crime rate compared to many other industrial countries. Recently, however, Japan is beginning to experience greater public disorder and criminal activity. The Guardian Angels Japan has chapters in most of the major cities and is only second to America in membership and activities. Keiji Oda, the founder and president of the Guardian Angels Japan. joined the Boston and New York City chapters in the 1980’s. As with most American concepts, the Guardian Angels received both immediate acceptance and rejection in Japan. However, Oda succeeded in convincing Japanese officials that the organisation would be run by Japanese members for the Japanese people, and the principles of the organization were not just American but universal. Official acceptance culminated with a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2005.

Guardian Angels - United Kingdom

In London, the Guardian Angels are a much smaller group, but have been patrolling the tube system and streets since 1989. The London Guardian Angels is a recognised not for profit community safety organisation, based in inner city environments with a specific focus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 2 and 3. The group "consists of 'unarmed, red bereted, peace seeking, racially mixed youth who "dare to care" by walking the streets as a visual deterrence to crime" (Pennell et al, 1989: 379). All volunteers are put on an ongoing training programme which includes:

• Learning how to defuse potentially violent situations with conflict negotiation techniques.
• Teaching effective team co-ordination under highly stressful circumstances.
• The instruction of criminal law and its applications.
• How to administer emergency first aid in volatile situations.

Members are also vetted for criminal records.

In Britain, the law requires citizens acting in self-defence to use "reasonable force", which leads to Guardian Angel training to centre on using the minimum possible force, and to only use force to prevent a dangerous situation from escalating. All violent crimes are reported to the police, and intervention leading to citizens' arrests (legal in Britain for certain crimes) or use of force is only employed in extreme cases. [1]

Guardian Angels - South Africa

The Guardian Angels South Africa was established in 2005 by a police officer in Cape Town. No other Guardian Angels chapter has ever been established and run by a police officer, although, one chapter in America was established and run by the town’s mayor. South Africa, unfortunately, has the highest crime rate of any industrialized nation. Racial tensions and hostility still remain from the Apartheid era. The goal of the Guardian Angels South Africa is not only to address the enormous crime and violence problem, but also to bring people of all races to work together in communities of all races.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Guardian Angels", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki