Guardian Angels try to make MAX a safer ride

TriMet is lukewarm about the presence of volunteer security group

By Nick Budnick

The Portland Tribune, Nov 13, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (45 Reader comments)

KATIE HARTLEY / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Marc Wolters of the Guardian Angels pays the MAX fare before boarding the train. The Angels, a volunteer group, often monitor light-rail trains to deter crime.

ADVERTISEMENTS

He says his name is Brian, he reeks of booze and his face bears a predatory leer as he leans unsteadily and unrelentingly into the personal space of a young woman on the Northeast 82nd Avenue MAX platform on a recent Sunday afternoon.

“Can I have a hug?” he slurs as he advances on her, his menacing tone suggesting he will not take no for an answer.

It’s unclear how things might have gone had there not been five people standing on the platform wearing red berets and jackets that say “Guardian Angels.” Two of them immediately flanked Brian, their body language saying he’d gone far enough.

The Portland Guardian Angels are an offshoot of a volunteer security group formed in New York City in 1979. In Portland, the group’s eight members for months have made their main focus helping TriMet and its riders feel safe about the MAX.

But even as the transit agency suffers through a spate of well-publicized violent incidents on the rails, the agency’s officials aren’t sure how they feel about the Angels.

“We welcome them on the system,” says spokeswoman Mary Fetsch, but she adds: “Their presence isn’t sanctioned. They’re not in an official TriMet capacity.”

In Portland, this is the Angels’ third go-round. Former Angel Michael McDaniel restarted the group with his friend Marc Wolters in 2004, worried about the growing crime they were seeing as well as widespread apathy toward fighting it.

The Angels specifically do not carry weapons. For the most part, they restrict themselves to deterring crime and occasionally calling 911.

McDaniel says the group is not looking for much from TriMet. “A return call would be nice,” he says.

Phone call summons officers

On the recent Sunday afternoon, a downside to the group’s work is not apparent. Two Angels talk to Brian and distract him from the woman, while others engage his friend, Mike.

Mike wears a Slayer T-shirt and seems happy to jump about to show the Angels – just theoretically, of course– how he would use his work boots to stomp anyone messing with him.

When the misanthropic duo hops on a train heading west, the Angels board the train with them. Brian sits and starts yelling an off-key rendition of the Doors song “The End.”

“Shut up!” yells a passenger, while others look uncomfortable and try not to make eye contact. Brian pauses and starts making suggestive remarks to some girls who look about 14, saying “I know you’re young, but –”

Meanwhile, another Angel, Iraq war vet Paul Grudzinski, has been quietly using his cell phone to let a 911 dispatcher know about Brian’s drunken and disorderly behavior, as well as the train’s location.

1 | 2 Next Page >>