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Join Telegram ChannelThe Guardian Angels, a volunteer crime prevention group, will resume patrolling the New York subway after a woman burned to death a week ago.
“We're now back to where we were when I started the band in 1979 in the subway. It's come full circle. I've never seen it this bad. Ever,” founder Curtis Sliwa told The New on Sunday. YorkPost.
Sliwa founded the Guardian Angels because “the need was there” after a rise in violent crime. Forty-five years later, he said that “the need is there again” and that his group “will intensify our efforts.”
“We monitor the trains from front to back, we go through the trains and make sure everything is OK,” he said. “We're doing this constantly now. Starting today, this will be our priority because the subways are out of control.”
Sliwa said hundreds of people had sought his group's services. (FOX 5 NYC/Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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The group was encouraged after an illegal immigrant was arrested for allegedly setting a woman on fire in a subway car, where she was ultimately burned to death. Since then, Sliwa said he has received requests from “hundreds” of people wanting to offer services.
“We are going to have to increase our numbers, increase training and increase our presence like we did in 1979,” Sliwa said.
According to Sliwa, 150 members will begin patrolling the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station where the woman was killed. They plan to provide wellness checks and water to homeless and other emotionally disturbed passengers while reporting problems to the NYPD.
Meanwhile, he emphasized his hope that his group would inspire New Yorkers to be more than spectators.
The Guardian Angels were formed in 1979 after an increase in violent crime in New York. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“There are so many trains coming in and out of here,” Sliwa said. “It's the perfect place because it reminds people that nobody did anything a week ago. Nobody intervened. Nobody pointed the finger at the cops and said, 'That.' is the guy.' Even the cops didn’t do anything.”
“It was an example of people just not getting involved,” he said. “And we're here to say, 'You see something, you say something.' You have to do something.”
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The announcement came less than two weeks after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that 750 members of the National Guard and 250 members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police had been deployed to patrol the New York subway before the holidays.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the deployment of hundreds of National Guard members to patrol the New York City subway ahead of the holiday season. (Getty Images)
“It’s clear to me, as many people have said, that the presence of the National Guard has made not only a physical difference, but also a psychological difference in their sense of safety,” Hochul said. “When people see a person in uniform…even our National Guard, they feel safer.”
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