Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Mission patrol, 4/11/09

We started the day with prebrief, we had 13 Guardian Angels. Today is the day that we are going back into the Mission after awhile of being in the Tenderloin, we will have the same two teams, a lead team and a shadow team.

We will use our radio's for this day, for better communication and for a better patrol. Keep in mind it is a nice day and Easter will be tomorrow, anything could happen but we are ready. Got to Mission Dist. 16th st. same routine and our same tour, first stop Hunters Alley not to bad, expected worst, but did pick up a few needles with drugs still in them.

But we move on, with Scorpion leading the lead team and me leading the shadow team, checked Kid Power Park all clear, checked Aliot Park all clear, and all the other alley's we checked were all clear. This is a very fine day, no problems and everyone was in a good mood, so we decided to call it a day. From 24th st. we marched back to 16th st. with no problems, caught the #14 bus and headed back to our HQ, did debreif, and called it a safe day, and everyone did not expect this kind of a day, but they do happen.
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Tenderloin patrol, 4/4/09

This weekend we had Guardian Angels from the Solano and Oakland chapters. We began our day with a prebrief and 16 Guardian Angels. JD led the first team and Scorpion led the shadow team.

We started the patrol at Turk St. and posted up on a few corners, but there were no problems. We went to O'Farrell St., Geary St and then we went to Ellis St. and the drug dealing was really bad. We posted up and things got a little quieter and some of the dealers left while residents came outside. You could tell the difference of the kind of people that ran the corners and those that wanted to go to the store.

After a short while a police car pulled up in front of us and the officer asked who was in charge. I spoke with him and he shook our hands because he had gotten a lot of calls from the local residents about the drug dealing going on that day, but by the time he arrived most of them had left since we were on their corner now. This was good because it shows the Guardian Angels and the police are on good terms and we can work together. But most of all the neighborhood, the community respects us as we respect them.

We will help out as much as we can because we do Dare to Care. Got back to our HQ. We came back safe from a good patrol. We would like to thank:

Omar, Solano Chapter Leader
Ajax, Oakland Chapter Leader
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Saturday, April 4, 2009

Mission patrol, 3/28/09

We began our day with a prebrief and 14 Guardian Angels. This is a big day for us as we had a reporter from Mission Local following our patrol for a story. This is good for our chapter and Guardian Angels all over because it tells what we do, how we do it, and why we care. If there is anyone who would like to do a story on us, get the truth by going out on patrol with us, please contact the chapter leader, JD. My email is on the top right corner of the blog.

We had two teams today. Scorpion led the first team and JD led the shadow team. Daredevil will assist the reporter. We began on 16th and Mission at our starting point. Next we headed up 16th to get lunch and ran into a problem. A guy was drunk off his ass that was in a way to start something, somehow, someway. But we got his booze, he calmed down and went his own way.

As the day went on, we checked our alley ways, picked up needles and a crack pipe. Made it to our ending point at 24th and Mission St. with no other problems. We headed back to 16th where we came across a woman smoking marijuana and we sopped her and asked her for the bag full of marijuana she was openly carrying. She gave it up and we disposed of it to keep the public areas safe and drug free.

We got back to HQ for a debrief. What a great day to handle all these problems while a story was being put together. We did come back safe and we did do our jobs as the San Francisco Guardian Angels!
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Tenderloin patrol, 3/21/09

We began our day with a prebrief and 14 Guardian Angels. We have two new recruits to join us for this day. Their code names are Zorro and Storm. Code names are necessary because we don't want to call out our real names in the streets. We divided into two teams for the day.

We had a lead team and a shadow team. JD took the lead team and Scorpion took the shadow team. We patrolled both sides of the street covering: Turk, Eddy, Ellis, O'Farrell, Geary, Taylor, Jones, Leavenworth, and Hyde St. We would like to thank this community for inviting us. We have to stand together and we have to work together to have a better community. We don't like drugs and what they do to people so if you are using drugs we urge you to seek help for yourself.

We came back to HQ and everyone came back safe. We did a great job today knowing we don't get paid but it feels good in our hearts. Again, thank you Tenderloin community for your support.
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Trip to LA, 3/13-15/09

We traveled to Los Angeles on Friday for new Guardian Angel graduation ceremonies, awards, and LA patrols. On Saturday, our first patrol was in Huntington Park. It was a beautiful day with no problems. Our second patrol was Venice Beach and it went well also.

Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa was with us and lots of people stopped to ask questions. Next stop was the LA HQ and Dojo for self-defense training and take down moves. Everyone had a great time and we always can use more training. Third patrol was Hollywood Blvd. at night. Night patrols can get dangerous because of the bars, clubs, and the drinking. One patrol broke up a fight, they did a very good job and we maintained a lot of presence on the street that prevented other things from happening. After patrol we went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

On Sunday we had graduations and awards. This will be remembered as a time that 11 chapters came together, all of California. I myself will never forget this trip. Curtis Sliwa's speech touched our hearts and our lives. Now we come back to San Francisco a better Angel, a smarter Angel, an Angel that will always be a roll model. We Do Dare to Care!
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Tenderloin patrol, 3/7/09

We began our day with 12 Guardian Angels and a prebrief before the patrol. We have begun patrolling regularly in the Tenderloin. We start out at Turk St. and then we patrol up and down these streets with focus and strength expecting the unexpected but we are trained and we are ready. After patrolling the streets we reach our second check-in point on O'Farrell, so far so good.

As our patrol seems to be coming to an end, we come across some people gambling, smoking crack, and drinking. We posted up, asked for the crack pipe, but did not receive it, asked for the bottle, but did not receive it, so we told the guy to take it somewhere else and not to do this in front of families and kids.

This man did not care. This man did not respond and we did not want to escalate the problem but we gave the man advice to seek help for his problem with drugs. This is the way the Tenderloin can get because of the drugs and the drug dealing. We will not give up, and we will do everything that we can to help this neighborhood with the crime, the drugs, and the violence.

We made it back to HQ for our debrief, everyone spoke about the day and everyone feels they made a difference. We Dare to Care!
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Friday, April 3, 2009

Mission patrol, 2/28/09

We started our day with pre-brief at our HQ. We headed out to the Mission in two teams with Greencard leading one team and JD leading the other. We have been patrolling the Mission for a very long time.

We do our alleyways, we do our clearing of parks, and we do our posting up. But the highlight of the day was towards the end of the day coming down from 24th St. and Mission. We got almost to 21st and Mission and we heard a loud sound like a bomb. We looked behind us and there was a cloud of smoke. Greencard said let's go to it and it was on the corner of 22nd and Mission St. The Wells Fargo Bank had just had a car crash into it. There was a woman driver that was the only one in the vehicle and she was bleeding from her head but she was OK.

We as Guardian Angels made a perimeter around the entrance of the bank keeping anyone from going inside. Then we were directing traffic to move the vehicles along. We knew the police were on their way and we knew the ambulance was on its way along with the Fire Dept. Thanks to the Mission District residents this did not get out of hand.

We made it back to HQ, did a debrief, and it was another safe patrol in the Mission.
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Tenderloin patrol, 2/21/09

We started out the day with a pre-brief before we headed out to the Tenderloin. First we stopped at KFC for lunch and then we were ready to walk and observe. We took some beers off the street by telling the person to pour it out since there can't be any drinking in public. We continued to patrol and it was a short but meaningful day.

As long as we went out and did our job as Guardian Angels and helped out any way that we could, this means a lot. We made it back to HQ, did our debrief talk about the day, what we did, how we did it and what we learned. This helps us become better at what we do the next time we go out on patrols. We Dare To Care! Read the rest

Tenderloin on 2/13/09, Vallejo on 2/14/09

On Friday the 13th we had a night patrol in the Tenderloin. On Saturday was the Guardian Angel anniversary party. We had chapters from Reno, Oakland, Solano County, Stockton, San Diego, LA, and Stanislaus County for the Friday patrol.

This patrol was a training exercise in addition to a normal patrol to show other chapters what it is like in San Francisco. We posted up on some of the hottest corners that there are in the TL and we stood our ground. There was a lot of yelling and name calling because we were there, but no major problems. We all came back safe and we all did a good job for a night patrol.

The next day was the 30 year anniversary party for the Guardian Angels. We began the day with a news conference at City Hall in Vallejo with all the Guardian Angels from all the chapters of California.

This was a statement to do this with this many Guardian Angels. Then we went to one of the churches that provided for us for the party. We met with city officials and with praise for our work. This was a moment to remember and reflect on what we do. We are a family, we are brothers and sisters and we do Dare to Care!

Thank you to all the chapters and all the leaders.
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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Mission District, 2/7/09

We have a new 2nd in Command: Scorpion. He has been a Guardian Angel now for two years. He led the patrol with 11 Guardian Angels today in the Mission and we used radios today also. We started out posted up at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive. When it came, we asked the bus driver if we could ride with him and he let us ride without charge. This is the support we receive from MUNI drivers.

We got to 16th and Mission, posted up as Scorpion led the patrol. We headed to Hunter's alley where we collected at least 20 needles. This is the kind of spot for this and we just kept cleaning it up. We went to Kid Power Park and it was all clear, so we went to Alioto Park and it was all clear also. Got to 24th and Mission, posted up and it was not too bad for a drug corner, it was all clear.

Went around to Travis alley, it too was all clear. Another alley that we hit is Lover's Lane, this was a bad alley and we must have picked up 10-15 needles and a crack pipe. As we started to head back down to 16th St., Scorpion posted up the patrol. We heard yelling and screaming coming from a restaurant, there were two women and a man yelling. The man is the one that started it and kept it up. We had to ask the man to leave the area and he did with no problem.

Got to 16th St. with no other incidents and caught the #14 bus to come back to HQ (headquarters). We had a good day, everyone came back safe, we did our debrief and gave our new 2nd Command high marks for his patrol.
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Tenderloin District 1/31/09

We've been busy lately and haven't had time to update the blog as often as we'd like to, so we've got a few more blog posts to get us current. We began our day with a pre-brief before starting our patrol on Turk St. with eight Guardian Angels. We posted up and began talking to the neighbors in the community.

The patrol went all the way to Van Ness and back down Turk because of the high crime rate. We went down other streets as well; Jones, Leavenworth, and Geary. The crack dealers were out along with the crackheads. They do not care how and when they do their drugs. But as we posted up on these corners, they left and it got peaceful. Citizens started to come outside their buildings when they saw us. This is a good feeling to make a stand and give back some hope for this community. It is making a statement that we do care. Our goal is to make more patrols in this neighborhood and to get the neighborhood to come together and take their streets back.

It was a good patrol, everyone came back safe and when we got back we did a debrief as well. Thanks to all the guys who did this patrol. The San Francisco Chapter!
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