Guardian Angels Return to London

Self-trained and Ready for Conflict, the Angels Take on Kilburn High Street

Mr. Hawk, Mr. Raven, Mr. Shaft, Mr. King and Mr. Walrus run through combat drills in a backstreet basement. Tall and short, lean and pudgy, each with varying accents and nationalities, they gasp heavily and sport fierce expressions.

Shaft, the veteran of the group, barks instructions with the authority of a drill sergeant. "When the back arches, you know they're in a lot of pain!"

I could swear that I have walked onto the set of a Hollywood movie complete with Tarentinoesque characters. But unless the studios of Tinseltown have moved to the seedier side of North London, what I'm witnessing is genuine.

The Guardian Angels are in training.

The group represents the London arm of a global network of volunteers who combat violent crime on city streets and subways. Following a leadership reshuffle a few years back that rendered them inactive, the Kilburn-based unit is back making the rounds. It lists 10 members and is vigorously recruiting more.

The organization was formed in New York twenty-five years ago by a McDonald's night-shift worker sickened by his neighborhood's crime. The idea was to fill a void left by policemen - to effectively mediate and deter assaults on impoverished city streets.

The cause in New York was justified, and eventually embraced by the likes of Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. The London chapter, in operation since 1985, has yet to achieve that status.

Although the Guardian Angels information pack says "An important part of GA patrol is liaison with local police," it is hardly the case in this city. The group's acting patrol officer Eduardo Salgado-Reyes, aka Walrus, readily admits "There is no relationship with the police. Some of them are friendly, some just ignore us."

What they cannot do is prevent the Angels from going about their business, as they are well versed on remaining on the right side of the law themselves. The training session focuses on when to intervene ("there must be a serious and immediate risk of injury") and how ("the first rule is identify yourself"). Crucially for Angels, their system preaches street-fighting techniques that protect both themselves and an attacker.