Guardian Angels
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| Founded | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Curtis Sliwa |
| Focus | Public Safety |
| Location |
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Area served
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Global |
| Website | www.guardianangels.org |
The Guardian Angels is a non-profit international volunteer organization of unarmed crime-prevention patrollers. The Guardian Angels organization was founded February 13, 1979, in New York City by Curtis Sliwa and has more than 130 chapters around the world.
Sliwa originally created the organization to combat widespread violence and crime on the New York City Subway system. The organization originally trained members to make citizen’s arrests for violent crimes. The organization patrols the streets and neighborhoods but also provides education programs and workshops for schools and businesses.
In the beginning, New York City Mayor Ed Koch publicly opposed the group. Over the years, the controversy has died down and as citizen involvement and outreach has increased, there has been less public opposition to the group by administration officials. Ed Koch later reversed his stance on the organization, and former New York City Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg have publicly supported the group.
In 1992, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa issued a public apology for faking several subway rescues in the 1980s in order to get publicity for the group. Since the statute of limitations on filing false police reports had expired, no charges were brought against him or the organization. Sliwa also admitted that the New York City Chapter primarily patrolled the Restaurant Row section of midtown Manhattan, except for occasional well-publicized patrols in other neighborhoods and subway patrols to recruit new members.
The original and main Guardian Angels activity is "Safety Patrol" in which members walk the streets or ride transit. Guardian Angels must be in uniform to represent the organization. They can be identified by their red [beret]s and red jackets or white T-shirts with the red Guardian Angels logo of an eye inside a pyramid on a winged shield.
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Wikipedia