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The Guardian Angels, a volunteer citizen crime-fighting organisation, have been patrolling the streets of New York City for four decades. But with the city still emerging from the grip of the Covid-19 crisis, they say they are busier than ever amid a spike in burglaries.
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New York has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with around 20,000 deaths. Although overall crime has fallen in the city in recent weeks, burglaries soared 169 percent in April, with thieves targeting shuttered businesses.
“Our services have never been more in need then now during this pandemic of coronavirus, because there's lawlessness, breaking into stores, robberies, thuggery, prisoners are being released from the jails because of coronavirus. And there are just not enough police,” Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, whose members are trained to carry out citizens arrests on suspected wrongdoers, told AFP.
But it is not just violent crime the group is battling. It is also helping to make sure the citys most vulnerable are not forgotten amid the pandemic.
"Homelessness and the EDPs that are out there, the emotionally disturbed people, that is now a focus,” said volunteer Read More – Source
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