Guardian Angels' Growing Pains

Mixed success as the young crime fighters go national

Nearly 500 mourners packed the small church of St. Thomas Aquinas, and another 500 waited outside. An honor guard of 300 young blacks, Hispanics, Chinese and whites, wearing their trademark red berets, stood at attention to honor their fallen comrade. The services in Newark last week were for Frank Melvin, 26, a Guardian Angel who was the first member of the much publicized volunteer anticrime group to be killed while on patrol.

In an unhappy twist of fate, Melvin was shot to death by a policeman during the investigation of a breakin. Newark police call the shooting a tragic accident. Guardian Angel Founder Curtis Sliwa, 27, insists it was a "coldblooded killing." Contending that neither the police nor the local prosecutor could perform an impartial inquiry, Sliwa at week's end led his group on a march to Washington to demand federal intervention.

Melvin's slaying is the most serious incident in the brief and controversial history of the Guardian Angels. Just three years ago, they were the "Magnificent 13," a group of unarmed, street-smart youths who took it upon themselves to patrol New York City's crime-ridden subways. Ghetto residents felt that their presence on trains deterred muggers; transit police thought the red-bereted youths were a nuisance and dismissed Sliwa as a self-promoting vigilante. After a "memorandum of understanding," which assured police cooperation with the Angels, was worked out with New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Sliwa intensified a nationwide recruiting campaign. Today the Angels claim to have 2,200 members and 1,800 more in training in 41 U.S. cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles.

Originally a city-based group, the Angels have lately begun to set up chapters in the suburbs. In bedroom communities around Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, for example, their mission is to deter house break-ins and assaults in shopping malls. In the process of expanding, the Angels are trying to shed their image as a squad of reformed ghetto toughs. In the Midwest and West, many volunteers are middle-class whites. Says Sliwa: "In Los Angeles I was astounded to see blond-haired, blue-eyed boys drive up in cars with surfboards, park and go out on patrol."

The Angels' effort to forge a national network has had mixed success. In New Orleans Angels have nabbed a knife-wielding robber with a record of 57 previous arrests and a pickpocket who turned out to be a murder suspect wanted by police. In other cities, their impact is not so clearly evident. A police spokesman in Pasadena, assessing their performance in patrolling the Tournament of Roses Parade, summed up the verdict of many observers: "No runs, no hits and no errors." In Boston the Angels predicted that there would be 250 volunteers on patrol by the end of the year; so far there are only 60. "They attracted a lot of attention," says Paul Di Natale of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, "and now the question is 'Where are they?' "

A bigger problem than numbers, however, may be the quality of the protection they offer. Chicago Sun-Times Reporter Michael Cordts, who went undercover and became a Guardian Angel recruit, drew a disturbing picture of his three-month training. Among his charges: recruits were poorly trained in citizens' legal rights; two violence-prone youths were graduated simply to bolster the size of the chapter; the group was racked by a power struggle between co-leaders dubbed by the rank and file "Mr. Ego" and "Mr. Mouth."

Sliwa calls reports of problems "exaggerated," but some Angels are less reluctant to acknowledge troubles. Admits Rahni Fiduccia of Chicago: "Most applicants think the Guardian Angels are a glorified Bruce Lee squad and they just want to go out there and smash heads." Says Boston Chapter Leader Susan Piver: "The idea should never have been to blitz Boston. We are limited by manpower and we are limited by funds." Growing pains are inevitable, but if the Guardian Angels fall short on their promises, they will undermine their potential effectiveness. Says Piver: "We've got to build from the ground up and that takes time."

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