As crime soars and calls to defund the police continue, New York City’s neighborhood vigilante group “Guardian Angels” are helping to patrol the streets.
Guardian Angels “is an unarmed, volunteer safety patrol” that exists in 13 countries and 130 cities, the group’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, told the Daily Caller. “But, we will physically intervene, we will make citizens arrests, we are not just eyes and ears. You know, see something say something – we take action on the spot.”
A combination of ongoing unrest following the death of George Floyd, the coronavirus pandemic, and rising crime has left the group “overwhelmed.” (RELATED: Violent Crime Explodes Across American Cities Following Nationwide Protests)
Sliwa said that the Guardian Angels have seen “the most dramatic increase in requests that we’ve had in 41 years.”
“In terms of people wanting our presence where they feel there’s a void because there’s no police because of defunding, and also because I think in some instances the police have taken the attitude ‘okay, you want to see what your world is gonna be like without police? We’ll give you a little sample,'” Sliwa said.
“And people are basically saying … enough, we need police,” he added. “But in the interim, as this battle continues, they need something. So they’re reaching out to the Guardian Angels.”
Sliwa started the group in 1979 to patrol the areas of New York City’s subways that didn’t have a police officer assigned to them because of budget cuts. The community was grateful for the group’s presence, he said, but the police were not – it wasn’t until Rudy Guliani was elected mayor in 1993 on a law and order platform that the Guardian Angels’ relationship with the police became friendly.
“We haven’t had any problems from the police since,” Sliwa said.
Trailed by Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa arrives at federal court to testify in the trial of alleged mobster John Gotti Jr. August 22, 2005 in New York City. Gotti Jr. is accused of a conspiracy to kidnap Sliwa as part of a slew of racketeering charges that could jail him for up to 30 years. (Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)
The group faced controversy in 1992 after Sliwa admitted to faking six crimes for publicity, the New York Times reported. Several former co-workers claimed that there were additional incidents of crimes being faked by the group. Sliwa disputed those claims and said that the people who came forward were disgruntled former members with personal vendettas.
Sliwa said the group isn’t just overwhelmed in New York City. Other places around the country have also called on the Guardian Angels after feeling the effects of nationwide unrest and efforts to defund the police.
He described fighting off looters during riots in Chicago and New York City. “In many places, we are now the first line of defense.” (RELATED: Trump Slams Cuomo For Losing New York To Looters, Says ‘NYC Was Ripped To Pieces’)
“I’m sad to say that, but the community has turned its back on the police,” Sliwa added. Many officers are now saying “‘let’s see what you can do on your own,'” he said, and it’s now up to communities to defend themselves.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted to defund the police in June. New York City approved a $1 billion budget cut from the NYPD, and Los Angeles voted last week to include an item on their November ballot that would cut the budget of police and court systems by $880 million. A group of businesses and residents in Seattle filed a lawsuit against the city in June claiming the city ricked public safety by allowing the police-free Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone to exist for nearly a month.
The Guardian Angels only come to a neighborhood when they’re asked for, and after they come, they have a rule – that neighborhood must then set up their own Guardian Angels group. Anyone can become part of the Guardian Angels, but to qualify members must go through a 3-month training course to prepare them.
“We believe in self-help,” Sliwa said. He explained that the group has a centralized training regimen and a set of rules for all their groups.
Sliwa says that communities generally have a “positive” reaction to the Guardian Angels, although “many of them would much rather have trained police.”