GUARDIAN ANGELS PLAN CITY BRANCH

Recruiting Trip in September, Possible Launch in January

A controversial group of citizen patrollers which rose to fame in New
York City will be making arrests on Winnipeg streets as soon as next
January, the Canadian director of the Guardian Angels said yesterday.

Canadian leaders of the notorious crime-busting group -- renowned for
their red berets and red satin bomber jackets they wear on
neighbourhood patrols -- said they'll visit the city this September to
recruit potential members.

It's part of a cross-country tour that will also stop in cities like
Calgary, Saskatoon and Regina, in response to volunteers who have
contacted the Guardian Angels headquarters about becoming members.

Angels are trained to provide first aid and conflict resolution on the
streets -- as well as to physically break up crime when they see it
occurring, and carry out citizen's arrests.

"People who come from Winnipeg say there's starting to be a racial
divide," said Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who began the
group 27 years ago in the Bronx.

Sliwa said minority groups in Winnipeg might have hesitations about
approaching traditional law enforcement agencies, and may be easily
preyed upon by criminals.

"I think if you get an interracial group together, I think it can do a
lot by a visual effect to show all different people of all different
status are not going to tolerate (crime)."

Sliwa, a Brooklyn native and onetime McDonald's manager, founded the
Guardian Angels in response to high crime rates in New York City. By
the 1990s, Sliwa's notorious tough-on-crime approach helped him strike
a friendship with then-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Sliwa said recent conversations with Giuliani following the former
mayor's speech at May's Winnipeg City Summit convinced him the city
needs Guardian Angels.

"It's ironic that (Winnipeg) brought the creator of zero-tolerance and
quality of life initiatives that brought New York's crime rates down.
But he's just the messenger. Now, you have to put some of these
programs into effect," said Sliwa. "People in Winnipeg (said they)
felt like they were having to suffer with a growing crime problem."

Organizers of the recruitment campaign said they're confident
Winnipeggers will sign up to be part of the program -- even though
Guardian Angels south of the border have been shot to death and beaten
in the course of physically interfering with criminal acts.

"We're having a great response across Canada; people are saying they
want to get out and be a positive, pro-active presence (on the
streets)," said Lou Hoffer, a former Toronto police officer who left
his job two years ago to head up the Toronto chapter of the Guardian
Angels, also the national headquarters.

"We're there to help awareness of the organization and start the
Winnipeg chapter of the organization."

Sliwa agreed.

"Obviously most of those injuries took place in deep urban areas of
infested crime in the States, he said. "I don't anticipate facing
anything of that nature in any of the urban centres in Canada,
including Winnipeg." However, Winnipeg police were tight-lipped about
the possible launch of the privately funded organization here.

"We're not going to comment specifically on any particular group, but
we do work with numerous citizens' groups," said police spokeswoman
Jacqueline Chaput.

"If they're well-versed in the Criminal Code of Canada, and they know
what their rights are... they're the ones that are going to have to be
very aware of what they can and cannot do."

Hoffer defended charges by critics that Angels, the largest citizen
patrol group in the world, are perpetuating vigilante justice,
grand-standing at the risk of volunteers and the surrounding
communities.

"We're there to help with medical emergencies, and the homeless, and
seniors' issues," said Hoffer.

"Of course we still deal with criminal activity. But remember, 90 per
cent of what we do is the education, the anti-bullying and anti-crime
and anti-violence programs."