GUARDIAN ANGELS TO HIT CALGARY'S STREETS IN FALL

Armed with little more than red berets and a drive to cut down street
crime, a local chapter of Guardian Angels will be on Calgary streets by
November.

The interview process is underway, but there is still first aid and
self-defence training to be done before the six-member patrols can begin
walking the beat, said the organization's Canadian director, Lou Hoffer.

When Angels founder Curtis Sliwa arrived in Calgary in May, he said he
expected to have his red berets on the streets by August.

But Hoffer said he expects the group won't be fully functional by the end
of the fall.

"We are moving a little slower than we would have liked," Hoffer said.
"There's no sense in rushing things."

"It's quite a long process to get a chapter up and running," he added,
explaining volunteers have to have a criminal record check and, if
accepted, go through at least three months of training.

In all, the Guardian Angels are looking for 24 volunteers who can take to
the streets in teams of six.

Sliwa said many Calgarians are supportive of the Angels' plan to patrol
areas where street crime is a problem.

But not everyone welcomes the volunteers in their red berets.

Ward 10 Ald. Andre Chabot, whose area includes Forest Lawn -- which the
Guardian Angels identified as a place on which they will be concentrating
- -- said the group sounds like vigilantes and he doesn't want them in the city.

If people are interested in getting crime off the streets, they should
apply to the Calgary Police Service -- which is short of recruits -- rather
than volunteering with a group that has no body armour nor weapons to
protect themselves while out on patrol, he said.

"That's why we have police. We shouldn't take the law into our hands," he said.

He added that, if citizens feel police aren't doing a good enough job in
combatting crime, he wants to hear from them. But turning to a group of
volunteers is not the answer to the problem.

Since Sliwa's May visit, the city has recently taken steps to control the
drug problem in the downtown core.

In June, the police commission approved Chief Jack Beaton's proposal to put
18 additional police officers in the downtown and Beltline areas to handle
growing safety issues. This came on the heels of a city council decision to
spend $6.2 million over the next two years for additional officers -- part
of a $15.7-million plan to increase downtown safety and clean up the city core.

Sliwa commended council and police for taking charge of problems in the
downtown area, but said there is still a need for the Angels.

"If they can get control of the East Village, the cul-de-sac of crack, the
C-Train platforms in check that would be great," he said. "Then we can
focus our energies outside of downtown."

Ward 9 Ald. Joe Ceci expects the Angels will be able to supplement local
police, but they won't solve the problems Calgary is dealing with.

"I don't think they're going to be the solution," he said. "It's not going
to make much of a difference one way or another."

He also said, because the Angels are funded through donations, money people
or corporations have given to other preventative initiatives may be
funnelled toward the Angels instead.

Meanwhile, the Angels are looking to expand elsewhere in Canada. On Friday,
Sliwa met with officials in Vancouver and a meeting has been set up in Ottawa.