Bands of citizen crime fighters clad in red berets and sateen jackets may soon begin patrolling Dallas’ most dangerous neighborhoods says Curtis Sliwa, president of the New York City-based Guardian Angels. The Dallas Morning News quotes Sliwa as saying that Dallas’ high crime rate, combined with several former Angels members’ move here, make the city an attractive location. “We have an ability to compete with the gang-bangers, hoodlums and drug dealers for the minds of the youth,” said Sliwa. “We get respect from the youth.”
To some, Sliwa, who founded the Angels in 1979 while a McDonald’s restaurant manager, is an icon for common people who fight for safety on streets and in subways. His Angels carry no weapons, only radios. But members aren’t shy about making citizen arrests, using a rarely employed but legal right to detain a suspect until police arrive. However, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller says, “He’s all about grandstanding.” She adds: “The last thing we need is for them to come down and have our crime statistics go up. Everywhere they’ve gone, they’ve created more controversy than they’ve done to solve crime.” Sliwa says that active chapters exist in more than two dozen U.S. cities, but Mayor Miller responds: “They remind me of Krispy Kreme – they fool themselves and they think they can expand 20-fold. I would appreciate if they would go to another city and leave us alone.”
Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/120804dnmetguardian.a42fb.html