Guardian Angels

Guardian Angels make another token appearance in Boston

adamg — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:29:39 +0000

Nothing at all to do with headlines about quadruple murders, organizer insists:

"We didn't want to make it seem like we're capitalizing on a bad event," Grace said. "That would have been impeccably bad timing if we did."

For now, the group is putting volunteers on the street from Brockton and Florida, until they can find Boston volunteers who aren't convicted sex offenders.

Guardian Angels still around

adamg — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:29:51 +0000

TS responds to an ambulance call on the Common placed by one; label him unimpressed.

Memo to the Weekly Dig

adamg — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:18:40 +0000

You might want to change that "Coming in July" graphic on your un-Web site (or, even better, just re-direct the whole thing to zombocom).

Speaking of Web things that have disappeared into the ether, looks like the Guardian Angels haven't updated their blog since June. 'Sup, guys?

Guardian Angels take credit for cracking Chiara Levin case

adamg — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:12:17 +0000

Well, OK, they allow as how maybe the cops had something to do with the arrests but that:

.. The short press release from the BPD mirrors exactly the information we passed along to them after receiving a tip from someone in the community. ...

Thank goodness we're a two-newspaper town

adamg — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:32:01 +0000

Because if you read this Globe story about the Guardian Angel who might really be a Guardian Fallen Angel and grew curious about who he was, you could just turn to the Herald to learn his name and see his mug (for that matter, you could have learned about him by watching Channel 5 last night).

The Globe story did end with a quote from Police Commissioner Ed Davis that "there could be room for a problem" if somebody wearing a uniform were found to have a sex-offender past. Presumably, that holds for other serious crimes as well.

A police shock force?

adamg — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:45:30 +0000

The Guardian Angels write on their Boston Herald blog:

It's incumbent upon the mayor and police commissioner to send in a shock force and stop these guys. Five-O needs to start frisking the gang-bangers and see how quickly it stops the violence.

Yes, ignoring the Constitution worked really well the last time Boston tried it.

Why we need more funding for police

adamg — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 11:45:48 +0000

Charley on the MTA says two words: Guardian Angels:

... Those #$%$#%# berets are the worst possible advertising Boston could ask for. So how can we say we don't need more real cops instead of the make-believe-ninjas from NYC? ...

Looks like the Globe's finally gotten the memo on Boston street violence

adamg — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:09:43 +0000

Not only did metro columnists Brian McGrory and Adrian Walker deal with violent crime this week, but today State House columnist (and fight breaker-upper) Scott Lehigh and business columnist Steve Bailey pile on (although John Daley notes that despite Bailey's pledge to get the Globe to cover the issue in great detail, there isn't a single Boston-specific story on the front page of today's Boston Globe).

Elsewhere on the violence front, the Globe reports on mixed reactions to the Guardian Angels and looks at anti-gang funding.

The Herald has Sliwa denying he's here for the publicity and has its fashion reporter critique the Guardian Angels' uniform:

The Red Beret: The signature piece. Breaking in a new one, Sliwa said, borders on a religious experience.

Oh, and the Herald gives Sliwa a blog. Interesting question: Can the Herald be unbiased in its reporting on an organization it's giving Web space to - especially when the blog is really being written by a Herald editor? (Oops, that means it's time for me to link to my disclosure). Possibly so, at least on the columnist front. Peter Gelzinis writes: Frauds don't usually get the chance to resurrect their routines.

The Dorchester News reports on the police Party Line, which Dorchester residents can allegedly use to report loud, late-night parties, of the sort Chiara Levin went to:

... Even when the party line is operational, Andelman said, she has heard anecdotally that calls sometimes go unanswered.

In support of the Guardian Angels

adamg — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:41:21 +0000

In a city where the police think helicopters are an answer to crime, Third Decade welcomes the Guardian Angels back to Boston:

... Someone tell the police to keep their asses on the ground, get to know the neighborhoods and the hot spots, and be a real presence. The last thing I want to see and hear are Los Angeles-style helicopter flights and searchlights in the middle of the night. The Guardian Angels won't be the answer to the city's problems, but I'll feel better seeing them actively patrolling the streets and subways than wondering what corner of the sky the police are flying around at any given moment. ...

Also, while we may not be a Baltimore or Detroit, Mats Tolander says we have nothing to be proud of when it comes to our murder rate - he compares Boston's to those of other US cities and finds us wanting.

Not a big fan of the red berets

adamg — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:07:24 +0000

In fact, Shawn McCormack explains why the Guardian Angels remind him of the Ku Klux Klan and worries what will happen on the Orange Line:

... You now have a group of citizens, with 3 whole months of "martial arts" training, an ax to grind, and a sense of entitlement riding the subways like they have some right to tell you what to do.

And they are accountable to no state actor. [At least when you hire mercenaries, you can regulate through contract.] Which means that if you get stopped and searched by a idiot in a red beret, you have no 4th Amendment protections because they are not state actors. Or if you get jumped by a bunch of idiots in red berets, and they use their "martial arts" to knock your teeth onto the sidewalk, you have no federal tort claim under Â§ 1983. ...

Meet the guy who claims he's going to clean up Boston

adamg — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:45:33 +0000

Curtis Sliwa, who will make sure the cameras are rolling before he gets off the plane from New York tomorrow to proclaim a New City Order, says torturing terror suspects is OK, that women should not express opinions in groups because all those hormones cloud their brains and that he wouldn't mind taking a baseball bat to Rosie O'Donnell "like a pinata." What's not to like?