Guardian Angels to Recruit

A Harvard sophomore is stepping up his efforts recruiting students to join the Guardian Angels, a nationwide group of anti-crime patrollers.

Jeffrey Ferguson '85, a Boston regional director for the group, said last week, "I've been working on a drive at Yale and at this point my plan to organize a group of students from Harvard is definite." Ferguson added that the only problem remaining is how to coordinate the Harvard students with the local Boston chapter.

The Harvard students who join would not be involved in patrolling the campus. Ferguson said, but would work with the Boston chapter to combat the rising level of crime in the local area.

The idea behind this drive originated last fall after the group's founder, Curtis Sliwa, participated in a Kennedy School panel. From there Ferguson picked up the movement and began to organize on his own.

Last March Ferguson and the Boston chapter held a recruitment meeting at Harvard and only four students showed up, but Ferguson was not discouraged. "At that time we were introducing the idea," he said. "If anyone, even President Bok wanted to talk about it. I was there, ready to discuss it," he added.

The Harvard group of Angels will not be officially affiliated with the University, Ferguson said. Instead he will use various school organizations to promote the idea and distribute information.

The Boston MBTA police say that the Angels have had a positive effect. "They're a pretty good bunch of kids," said William Brackett, MBTA police liason officer to the Guardian Angels. "And just the fact that they're out there does something for crime prevention."