Guardian Angels announce return to subway patrols

December 30, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Curtis Sliwa, Guardian Angels founder and former New York City mayoral candidate. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

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CONEY ISLAND – IN THE WAKE of the horrific burning death of a woman on an F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue terminus last week, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa on Sunday announced that the volunteer watch organization would resume patrolling the subways in small teams, reports amNY. Sliwa, who ran against Mayor Adams as the Republican candidate in the last mayoral election, at a Sunday press conference strongly criticized the city’s efforts at controlling subway crime and addressing the growing homelessness rate. 150 members of the sometimes-controversial group will both watch for criminal or dangerous activity, while also distributing water bottles and offering aid to unhoused riders and others who appear to be in distress, according to Sliwa. The efforts will focus on Coney-Stillwell in particular, which has become a hotspot for rough sleepers.

The Guardian Angels, first formed in 1979, have long generated mixed reactions, receiving praise for volunteer efforts to maintain security on the subway in more dangerous years, but also criticism, with some characterizing members as quick to violence and discriminatory against people of color. The group has become less active in recent decades as the city’s crime rate dropped.

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