Angels hit the city

WILKES-BARRE – They came in pairs just as the sky turned dark.

It was Saturday evening on a busy Public Square. And, the city’s Guardian Angel chapter stood out like a sore thumb in their signature red berets and jackets.

These Angels were running through the last of their training before graduation in two weeks.

This was their core training – patrol training. Nine volunteers will become members of the Wilkes-Barre chapter on May 18.

In this city of about 42,000, the organization will work as the visual deterrent to the criminal element terrorizing the majority, said Scott Koppenhofer, coordinator of Wilkes-Barre’s chapter of Guardian Angels.

The city’s police department has not spoken publicly about the Guardian Angels since the chapter formed in February.However, members said they are starting to build a rapport with officers on the street.

The group won’t stand for the criminal element, he said. It’s real personal. Each volunteer has a reason for getting involved.

“I don’t think anyone should have to fear for their life or safety,” said Koppenhofer, who lives in Kingston. “I’m a very proud American. I’m a very proud veteran. Years ago you used to be able to leave your doors unlocked and walk down the street without being harassed. Now you have people who fear going out at five o’clock at night. Why should they have to do that?”

Koppenhofer has been shot at, cut and even beaten up while in the organization of unarmed citizen crime patrollers. He’s been in riots, mob situations. He was in San Diego during the Los Angeles riots triggered by the Rodney King beating. Beach patrols can be scary, too.

Citizen arrests have not been made yet, Koppenhofer said. That’s a last resort for this chapter of Angels. They’re trained to de-escalate any situation through hostile-conflict resolution. Basically, he said they are members of the community like anyone else.

Members of the city’s first chapter will carry radios if more than one Angel patrol is out. Until graduation, trainees are kept in safer parts of town like the Square.

Every street corner is different, though. Some more dangerous than others, said Koppenhofer, who is all too familiar with drive-by shootings from his California days, where he first trained to become a Guardian Angel. He experienced two drive-bys.

It’s serious when John Weston sounds his hands with two claps. He is the chapter’s patrol leader who will be graduating this month. He signaled volunteers to cross North Main Street at Public Square.

At another street corner, Weston clapped once. This meant to spread out and post up.

Weston put one finger over his head to get them to single up. Two fingers means walk two abreast.

There was a signal for a quick stop, like when a citizen asks for directions. The chapter’s leader puts a fist over his head. This was a signal for volunteers to hold put.

One guy was tripled with Weston and his partner. Another guy, a new recruit, did a walk-a-long. They’d single up from congested areas to narrow walkways, but keep sidewalks open at the same time.

John Conwell, 52, is one of the nine members graduating. He was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre. This is home to him.

“I’ve seen the deterioration of this city over the years,” he said. “The decline in the Wyoming Valley in general and I thought this would be a good way for me to do something about it.”

Conwell said he’s known about the Guardian Angels since they started in New York back in 1979 with founder Curtis Sliwa, who he’d used to listen to for years on his radio program on WABC in New York.

Sliwa will be attending the chapter’s graduation, along with the Stroudsburg chapter.

A chapter will be starting in Scranton following May’s ceremony at American Dojo Karate on South Main Street, according to Koppenhofer. Bridget Morrissey, owner of the martial art school in Wilkes-Barre, will be starting the Scranton chapter.

“There has been an influx of people from New York into this area. Whenever you have that, you have the good and the bad whenever you have that big city influence,” he said. “There’s been an increase in violent crime in this area. You can see graffiti all over the place.”

Rebecca Morris, 30, of Wilkes-Barre, will also graduate this month. She starts school in August at Luzerne County Community College to become a police officer.

“I thought that this would be the best way for me to get a feel of what it’s like to be out there,” said Morris, who is a single mother. “It makes me feel good to do this because I know I’m doing something good for the community.”