Citizen police changed US cities and they can change London too

FOR many, the Guardian Angels probably seem mythological rather than historical, and even though they still exist ( in a much-abbreviated form), they seem like a part of New York’s past.

- Dylan Jones

Founded in 1979 as a civilian crimewatch organisation, the Angels soon became iconic, swarming around Manhattan in their red berets, red jackets, or white T-shirts with the red Guardian Angels logo of an eye inside a pyramid on a winged shield… operating like benign vigilantes. The very idea of them was probably as meaningful as their actual presence, as it made both residents and visitors believe that there was a group out on the streets actually looking after them.

They soon became portrayed as streetwise superheroes, standing guard on Subway trains, discouraging violent behaviour, and administering citizens’ arrests. Importantly, they made people feel safe. I saw patrols of them when I first visited New York in the early Eighties, and they not only contributed to the rich patina of the city, but you knew as long as they were in your eyeline, you were never going to be mugged.