Guardian Angels to patrol Detroit transit


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Red berets, leather gloves, logo'ed shirts & jackets, and most of them are big. Black, brown and white they're training in community centers, frequently with off duty officers. They plan on fielding at least 40, 4x the number of cops assigned to transit, perhaps much more if they can get volunteers.

On TV they interviewed a police commander and he all but said 'have at it, just be careful.'

http://www.freep.com/article/20131028/NEWS01/310280143/Guardian-Angels-DDOT-buses-patrol

There?s another line of defense in the battle to protect those who ride and drive city buses.

The Guardian Angels are riding buses and hoping to help with issues that arise on the city?s bus routes at a time when riders complain of rude drivers and late buses while operators say they?ve been physically assaulted by out-of-control riders.

Miguel Fuentes, national director of the Guardian Angels, said local members have been riding buses for the last three months.

?We started coming out after hearing from riders and bus drivers about how things were,? said Fuentes, 42, an electrician by day. ?We wanted to introduce ourselves to the bus drivers and residents, to let them know we?re here.?

Monday, local members of the group were out distributing flyers to residents and recruiting new members. Fuentes said many members plan to ride the buses through the late evening.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig announced plans last week for a transportation unit consisting of 10 police officers to patrol and oversee boarding of buses to ensure safety. He also said that some plainclothes officers would ride the buses from time to time. Gary Brown, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr?s chief of staff, said officers from several agencies ?including Wayne State University and People Mover police ? have been spot-checking the buses as a way to help deter crime there as well.

Fred Westbrook, president and business agent for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26, said he welcomes the help from the Angels on the buses.

?If anybody wants to come and ride the bus, and help remove people if they get out of order, I?m well with it,? he said.

In the week since a bus operators? rally downtown, which ultimately led the DDOT to shut down bus services on Oct. 21, Westbrook said he only heard of one major incident involving a rider and a driver. That incident, he said, involved a rider slapping a bus driver after the man told the driver he missed work the day of the service shut down.

Fuentes said the Angels, who are unarmed, will combine their annual neighborhood checks around Halloween with riding the buses as well ? getting off the buses in neighborhoods they plan to patrol.

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Moved to RWN.

 

This is really cool! Hope they can help. That place could certainly use some guardian angels. :innocent:

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The intent is obviously noble but it just highlights how fundamentally broken Detroit is. When the police are unable to protect you it's time to find a new place to live.

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Easy to say from 3,000+ miles away, but reality intrudes. Most here cannot afford to move, having mortgage and/or family obligations or a job in times when they're in short supply. We do what we have to, including packing heat.

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Uhh, thanks but no thanks.  I don't want some creepy guy with nothing better to do staring at me.

You might if you lived there, and the alternative was possibly a creepy guy with nothing better to do beating/mugging you.

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Exactly. People are glad to see them on these buses because of numerous incidents where hoods have caused trouble. 2 walking mountains scoping out for troublemakers has a considerable intimidation factor.

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Easy to say from 3,000+ miles away, but reality intrudes. Most here cannot afford to move, having mortgage and/or family obligations or a job in times when they're in short supply. We do what we have to, including packing heat.

You say that but the population of Detroit has more than halved from its peak and continues to fall rapidly, so I'm clearly not out of place with my assessment. And if you need to carry a weapon just to feel safe then you're obviously not actually safe. It's scandalous that a prosperous nation like the US could allow a city as large as Detroit to fail in the way that it has. To correct an issue on this scale you need massive involvement from the government and that just isn't politically viable due to the schism between the two major political parties. Sure we've seen various shake-ups and high-profile political figures jailed at a local level but the core issues remain, including the obscenely high murder rate.

 

Having a bunch of 'good thugs' patrolling neighbourhoods and riding buses will do little to reduce crime, it will simply force it into other areas. As I said, it's a noble gesture and comes from a good place but it does nothing to tackle the core issues facing the city - it just highlights how broken the city is.

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Fuentes said the Angels, who are unarmed, will combine their annual neighborhood checks around Halloween with riding the buses as well

 

They don't sound like a threat to the armed to the teeth gangs roaming around.

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They don't sound like a threat to the armed to the teeth gangs roaming around.

 

If it means having those shaven gorillas on my side, or be alone. I'll take 2 shaven gorillas backing me up.

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