The man in the red beret approached the corner of Ellsworth and Derby. Stand back, he said — this was a job for a Guardian Angel.
He put his fist in the air. The men behind him stopped.
“We might have a situation up here,” he said.
He disappeared around the corner. Eleven other red-beret, black pants, and white T‑shirt wearing fellow members of the Guardian Angels citizen patrol group waited in single file.
They say Alexander the Great led his troops into battle. Keith “Rocky” Pratt, chapter president of New Haven’s Guardian Angels, not only led from the front, but had gone scouting all by himself.
He reappeared, shouting “All clear!”
Jay Dockendorf Photo
Keith “Rocky” Pratt
Pratt and a band of Angels, some of them imported form other cities, showed up in New Haven’s Edgewood neighborhood Wednesday night to deliver a message: We’re still here. And we’d like more help.
The group rounded the corner, walking past a retirement community.
“Three o’clock!” voices yelled.
Across the street four teenagers sat around a bus stop. On the Angels’ side, seniors gathered under the front awning greeted and thanked the platoon as it trudged past in the balmy rain.
Up ahead, though, more trouble awaited, at least as far as the Angels were concerned.
“Watch this: as we approach, they’re going to scatter. Two cars are going to take off. The guns are in the cars. The guys that are holding are going to walk away. The kids on bikes are lookouts,” Pratt said.
Cars pulled away as the patrol approached a patio. Kids on bikes took off, and two other guys walked briskly away. “We’ve had trouble with this apartment,” Pratt said.
Pratt and his crew of Guardian Angels are not police officers, but a volunteer group that promises conduct a citizens’ arrest if they witness a crime or happen to have probable cause. (Click on the play arrow in the video at the top of this story to see “Snake” describe how and when this happens). Anyone over the age of 16 can become a Guardian Angel.
A national organization founded in New York City, the Angels of New Haven occasionally hit the 24 square blocks between Whalley, West Park, Edgewood, and Sherman. They do not carry weapons. They do keep handcuffs.
Eliezer Greer
A neighborhood organizer, Eliezer Greer, supports the Angels as a ‘shepherd,’ he said. “These guys have a long-term vision for Edgewood,” he said during Wednesday evening’s event. Greer also lets the Angels use one of his neighborhood apartments as their headquarters.
The New Haven Angels patrol once per week, on different nights, in order “to surprise the bad guys,” said members, most of whom live in other parts of Connecticut. They said the New Haven chapter has 10 members; four to six Angels patrol on a normal night. (The weekly expectation of a time commitment for new volunteers is three hours.) Wednesday night, a chapter from Hartford drove down to assist in the effort and the whole platoon was twelve strong.
The Angels said they are launching “Operation Elm.” They hope to institute one night a week of recruitment efforts, two nights a week of patrolling, and a better job of getting information out to the community. “Mostly old ideas,” said Pratt.
He said he is especially interested in reaching out to senior citizens in the neighborhood: “Look, if you’re afraid to go to the market, we’ll go with you,” he said.
As the platoon marched across Chapel Street at Ellsworth, a woman riding in the passenger seat of a passing car stopped at the intersection raised herself out from the window and loudly asked, “Who are you guys? What do you guys do?”
No one said a word back to her.
“We don’t engage,” said Pratt moments later.
This was not a recruitment night, after all. The rest of the trip through the neighborhood passed under a similar blanket of silence on the part of the Angels.