Houma citizen seeks Guardian Angel help

Robert “Spider” Smith returned home a couple of weeks ago to find his Houma residence burglarized. He called Houma Police, but it was 20 minutes before officers arrived on the scene.

The infuriating part, he asserts, was that officers were only a block away.

“We need some extra help in the community,” he said. “We need some people who will be on the streets at all times, keeping an eye on criminal behavior in the various neighborhoods of Houma, Thibodaux, Lockport, Larose – basically the Tri-parish area.”

To achieve this goal, Smith isn’t calling on neighborhood watch groups. Instead, the former nightclub bouncer is looking for help from the Guardian Angels.

Originally formed in New York City, the specially-trained volunteer group set up shop almost seven months ago in New Orleans to help fight crime.

Smith and Guardian Angel members gathered in East Houma recently to urge citizens to join in their fight against crime.

The Houma resident envisions Guardian Angels providing patrols in parking lots at the mall, hospitals, on school grounds and in Downtown Houma.

“Our parking lots are dangerous for women and men,” Smith said. “We want to safeguard the neighborhood and schools from crime and violence.”

Before hopefuls can become full-fledged Guardian Angels, they have to attend self-defense, martial arts and first aid classes in New Orleans. Patrol leader Phil “Viper” Garcia said, “New Orleans is the best place to train for something like this because crimes happen every day.”

Garcia said the training is strictly on a volunteer basis. It’s not like boot camp.

He said law enforcement agencies’ reaction to the Guardian Angels have been mixed.

“We are accepted by most law enforcement agencies,” Garcia said. “We are getting a great response from the patrolmen because when we are there to help they don’t have to worry about crowd control and things like that.”

Smith said he made contact with the Houma Police Department and the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, but his calls remain unreturned as of this time.

“We have gotten some responses from some of the officers, but no one higher up like the police chief or the sheriff,” Smith said. “The officers are just giving us words from the wise and some safety tips.”

Houma Police Chief Patrick Boudreaux told the Tri-Parish Times he has no problems with the citizens of Houma patrolling the streets and neighborhoods looking for suspicious activity.

Boudreaux said he doesn’t care if they’re called Neighborhood Watch or Guardian Angels. He does, however, have concerns with private citizens confronting suspects on the streets.

“These situations are best left to trained professional police officers,” he said. “Curtailing criminal activity works best when police and the community work together in communicating the issues within each neighborhood and in other parts of the city.”

Any group working to improve vigilance and communication will serve the community for the good. However, vigilantism is neither effective nor safe for any community, Boudreaux said.

Guardian Angels are not police officers or sheriff’s deputies, and they do not ride in patrol cars. They walk wearing their standard uniform – a white T-shirt and red beret. The group is certified to handcuff and detain anyone engaging in actions not becoming of a citizen. In short, they make a citizen’s arrest.

“We are doing what an average citizen can do – make arrests and detain criminals when they do something wrong,” said Garcia. “We don’t have special privileges. We just exercise our citizen’s rights.”

A citizen’s arrest is where a private citizen has the right to detain a suspected criminal until proper law enforcement personnel can assume custody. This practice can be traced back to the English common law during the Middle Ages.

“During these times citizen’s arrests were much more common practice,” Garcia said.

However, even he strongly discourages untrained civilians from making citizen’s arrests because the risk of bodily harm or death is much too high in this day and age.

“Anyone can carry handcuffs and detain suspected criminals,” he said. “However, I strongly recommend that before citizens go out and try to protect themselves from crimes they should be trained to handle themselves first.”

Before Guardian Angels are allowed to patrol the streets, they must go through at least three to five months of training for safety and lawsuit protection.

Since its inception in 1979, the Guardian Angels have not been faced with lawsuits of any kind, according to Garcia. He said the group strictly follows the laws and regulations of making a citizen’s arrest.

One of the legal criteria for making a citizen’s arrest is the immediacy of the crime – catching the person in the act. For example, Garcia said someone who witnesses a mugging can seize and detain the mugger until police arrive.

“If we catch them (criminals) in the act, and most times we do, then they don’t have a leg to stand on,” Garcia said.

Armed with only a flashlight and a radio, Guardian Angels have been deemed in some cases as community vigilantes. However, Garcia said that’s not the case at all. “Vigilantes are people who seek revenge or have a vendetta against someone,” he said. “They like to bully their way around. They carry weapons. We are simply community patrolmen who are trying to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

“Even with the techniques they learn we try to verbally de-escalate the situation first,” Garcia added. “And if that doesn’t work, then we use our training techniques.”

The New Orleans’ Guardian Angel motto is “Dare to Care.” The group came about because New Orleans resident Giovanni Anglin’s friend was gunned down after a robber took his wallet in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood. The papers called the friend’s death “six degrees of separation from death.”

Shortly after the murder, Anglin contacted Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder, and pleaded for some safety relief in New Orleans.

“They had a reputation for taking care of the problem,” Garcia said.

Garcia stressed that New Orleans’ crime rate is 17 times higher than New York’s, which is where the Guardian Angels organization was started.

The New Orleans chapter, which has 15 members, has been active for seven months. However, the patrolmen have only been on the street for three months. They control the crime wave in the French Quarter, and in isolated areas of New Orleans.

To learn more about the Tri-parish area Guardian Angel chapter, call (985) 873-0097 or visit Body Elite Fitness East, 1953 Prospect Blvd in Houma.

Members of the New Orleans chapter of the Guardian Angels teach the Tri-parish hopefuls a basic search-and-pat down at the Guardian Angel meeting in Houma Sunday. * Staff photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN