Citizen Patrols Take Aim at Drugs, Gangs

Volunteers from throughout the black community began patrolling the streets and alleys of a neighborhood northwest of Watts on Saturday as an unprecedented community-based street patrol campaign aimed at ending gang violence and drug abuse in South-Central Los Angeles got underway.

One man hobbled on crutches. Another brought his 6-month-old nephew in a baby carriage. They were among about 70 men and women who participated in the first day of “Taking Our Community Back,” a grass-roots effort organized by the Brotherhood Crusade to clean up and provide safety in the neighborhood for at least 30 to 45 days.

Through the rest of August and into September, a 110-square-block area bordered by 93rd Street, Avalon Boulevard, Central Avenue and Manchester Avenue will be swept, painted and patrolled by volunteers. Unarmed “brotherhood protection teams” will roam the neighborhood 24 hours a day, reporting crimes to a command center, which will, in turn, notify police.

Get to Know People

On Saturday, patrol representatives from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, community churches and the Fruit of Islam got to know the people in the neighborhood they have pledged to help.

“We’re here to observe what’s going on in the community,” said Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell to volunteers gathered for a patrol orientation at Green Meadows Recreation Center. “You’re talking to the people, talking to the homeowners, letting them know we’re trying to make their community safe.”

Talk they did--to a 36-year-old man, standing barefoot in front of the housing project that he has called home for the last 18 years. And to an ex-Marine from Compton who showed up to walk with them. And to an emaciated young woman who was taking her children, dressed in filthy clothes, in the direction of a rock house.

“Take care of these beautiful kids,” volunteer Mae Thomas told the woman, who tried to avoid her gaze. “You can get help. Tell the drug man, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t go with you anymore. I’m going with the Brotherhood Crusade.’ ”