ANGELS TO PATROL STREETS BY FALL

Volunteer Group Will Focus On Conditions Along 118th Avenue After
Training Scheduled To End In August

EDMONTON - The Guardian Angels could be patrolling Edmonton streets by
summer's end.

"We want to start training by the end of May, which means we could
have people on patrol by the end of August," local organizer David
Schroder says.

Would-be recruits to the volunteer anti-crime group were on hand
Saturday to meet Angels' founder Curtis Sliwa, who flew in from New
York to attend a barbecue at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre.

The Alberta Avenue neighbourhood, specifically along 118th Avenue,
will initially be the group's main focus.

Several residents told Sliwa stories about rising crime in the area
and what they see as a flagging police presence.

Sasha Goders said that 50 years ago her grandparents bought the home
she now shares with her husband Darren Lamb and their three-year-old
daughter, Lily.

At the time, children played in the street.

"Now," said Goders, a library clerk, "I look out my window and see
prostitutes and drug dealers. But I never seem to see many police."

Lamb, a stay-at-home dad, said "I'm the one who ends up chasing them
away."

He filled out an application to join the group.

About 15 to 25 people have expressed interest in becoming Guardian
Angels, said Schroder, who hopes to assemble a group of eight to 12
volunteers.

Dan Marsh, a 38-year-old steel fabricator, said he wants to join
because "anything that will help to get rid of some of the crime, I'm
all for it."

Allen St. Arbaud, a Guardian Angel in Montreal for about a year 17
years ago, said he moved to Edmonton two months ago, "but I already
see the need for (the Angels)."

Ed Campbell, 71, said he still isn't sure about the role the group
should play.

"I say leave it to the police to do the policing," said Campbell, who
lives on the south side. "But I'm here to listen to (Sliwa)."

Sliwa talked about the group's work in Calgary, where it has operated
for two months, patrolling a downtown area he described as "a seething
cesspool of drugs and criminal activity."

Their volunteers are a help by calming potentially violent situations
and calling police when necessary, not vigilantes, he said.

"What we do is mostly psychological," he said. "Our presence is what
keeps situations from escalating."

Mayor Stephen Mandel and police Chief Mike Boyd said last year the
Guardian Angels are not needed or wanted in Edmonton.

But Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier has said he has no problem with
volunteer groups offering help to police.

Vancouver greeted news of a chapter enthusiastically, and city
officials offered to do background checks on prospective volunteers.

Merv Swityk, the past president of Neighbourhood Watch for Edmonton,
said the Angels aren't the vigilantes they're sometimes made out to be.

"I think we need their support. We have to take our communities back."

Sliwa will lead Edmonton recruits and members of the Calgary chapter
on a street patrol along 118th Avenue this morning to show prospective
members how it's done. "They can see if (being an Angel) is gonna be
their cup of tea or not," said Sliwa. "We want people to commit to the
whole nine yards."