Guardian angels patrolling Rose City for gang-shooting tips
PORTLAND, Ore. – There is a big debate this week on how to clean-up Portland's streets after a string of gang-related shootings.
One group, the "Guardian Angels," has its own tactic.
Their biggest problem, they say, is just getting people to talk. They say sometimes there is an unspoken rule in high-crime neighborhoods: "no snitching." That means don't tell police even if you know who is breaking the law.
That's why the Portland Guardian Angels are out to change that.
Guardian angels aren't a new idea. What's new, however, is that they are deploying to Portland's streets to see if anyone will come forward with shooting information before someone else is killed.
You may see them walking around town with their signature uniforms: red berets and printed white T-shirts. They were out over this past weekend along North Killingsworth Street, trying to let the community know they're here.
Their idea is to be the link between people who are scared to talk and police. They hope that, with this link, maybe investigators will be able to solve at least some of the nine gang-related shootings since this past Tuesday.
"It's 'no snitching' until it comes down to your family member or something like that," said Paul Grudzinski with the Portland Guardian Angels. "And then if your mom or your daughter or a little baby gets killed then people go, 'Hey, wait a minute, let's not do this. This is violent. We're going to kill people.'"
Some guardian angels, like Grudzinski, have military backgrounds. Grudzinski says if they can gain the trust of people in Operation Iraqi Freedom they should be able to do the same thing in the Rose City.
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