Edgewood residents can soon learn how to become Angels.
The community safety group Guardian Angels will start training residents in upcoming weeks how to take their neighborhoods back from criminals, said Marcus Dent, head of the group?s Baltimore chapter.
Dent said he will meet with Sheriff Jesse Bane by the end of next week about how to patrol areas and work with police.
After that meeting, training will begin and last about three months, said County Councilman Dion Guthrie, who asked for the Angels help last year after the murder of an Edgewood man.
“To tell you the truth, I?m anxious to take the training myself,” he said, adding that his wife is also interested. For the last four months, Guthrie had a firsthand look at what sheriff?s deputies go through, graduating recently from Citizens? Police Academy.
The Angels have received about 36 applications from Harford residents, and they will continue to accept applications at Community Day in Edgewood Saturday, which Dent called a “meet-and-greet” picnic that Bane and Guthrie will also attend. Live music, free food, a water slide and a moon bounce will be there.
Keith Staggers, president of the neighborhood association, said he expects about 600 people to attend throughout the day.
He said seeing groups patrolling the neighborhood will cause residents to become more involved in their own security, which is good, because gang presence in the area has gotten worse.
“A lot of people are under the assumption that Angels come into a community and they bring their own people from outside the community ? and that?s not what happens,” police spokeswoman Sgt. Christina Presberry said.
Dent said he hopes to patrol three times a week, starting with a pilot program in the Edgewater Village Community, where Saturday?s event will be held.
Dent added that Angels do more than just patrol neighborhoods; they also educate children on crime and safety.
But when on patrol, he said, “you can?t miss us,” in red berets, black pants and Angels T-shirts.
If you go
» What: Edgewood Community Day
» Where: 1800 block of Brookside Drive
» When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
» Why: Meet the Guardian Angels
