The Guardian Angels, a volunteer crime prevention group, will begin patrolling New York's subways after the death of the woman was burned alive last week.
“Now we're back to where we were when I started the band in 1979 on the subways. It's completely gone. I've never seen anything this bad. Never, ” founder Curtis Sliwa told New York Post Sunday.
Sliwa is established Guardian Angels because “the need was there” after the increase in violent crime. Forty-five years later, he argued that “the need is there now again” and his team “will rise.”
“We cover real trains from front to back, walking inside the trains and making sure everything is in order,” he said. “We're doing this regularly now. Starting today, that will be our full focus because the subways are out of control.”
Sliwa says hundreds of people have requested his group's services. (FOX 5 NYC/Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The group was inspired after an illegal immigrant was arrested for allegedly setting a woman on fire in a subway car where she ended up burning to death. Since then, Sliwa said they have received requests from “hundreds” of people to provide services.
“We will have to increase our numbers, increase training and increase our presence like we did back in 1979,” Sliwa said.
According to Sliwa, 150 members will begin patrolling the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station where the woman was killed. They plan to provide health checks and water to homeless people and other emotionally disturbed passengers while reporting issues to the NYPD.
Meanwhile, he stressed his hope that his team will encourage New Yorkers to be more than just spectators.
The Guardian Angels were formed in 1979 following the rise of violent crime in New York City. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“There are a lot of trains coming in and out of here,” Sliwa said. “It's a perfect place because it reminds people that nobody did anything last week. Nobody got involved. Nobody pointed to the police and said, 'This is the guy.' Even the police did nothing.”
He said: “It was an example of people who do not participate. “And we are here to say, 'You see one thing, you say another.' You have to do something.”
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This announcement came less than two weeks after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that 750 members of the National Guard and 250 members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) The police were sent to patrol subway system in New York City before the holidays.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the deployment of hundreds of National Guard members to patrol the New York City subway system ahead of the holiday season. (Getty Images)
“It's clear to me, as I've heard from many people, the presence of the National Guard has made not only a physical difference, but a mental difference in the way they feel about safety,” Hochul he said. “When people see someone in uniform … even our National Guard, they feel safer.”
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