Nation of Islam Guards Patrolling Crime-Plagued Projects : Housing: Group affiliated with Louis Farrakhan will provide unarmed night patrols for federally subsidized apartments in Venice.

Wearing distinctive gray uniforms and red bow ties and stepping with military-like precision, security guards affiliated with the Nation of Islam marched into the crime-plagued Oakwood section of Venice on Sunday to begin patrolling 14 federally subsidized housing projects.

The inauguration of the controversial patrols at the apartment buildings, collectively known as Holiday Venice, capped an 18-month effort by tenants to obtain a security force to rid their complexes of rampant drug dealing, crime and gang activity. Two weeks ago, one building was seized by U.S marshals and put under around-the-clock guard, with authorities alleging that the property owner had failed to stem drug peddling.

The N.O.I. Security Agency--affiliated with the Rev. Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam--will provide unarmed night patrols for 256 Holiday Venice apartments, where rents are subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Although officials with the security firm were reluctant to reveal more details of how their patrols will operate, Abdul Arif Muhamad, an attorney for the firm, accused HUD officials of trying to frustrate their efforts.

Muhamad said he was told by the firm that manages the apartments, Alliance Housing Management, that HUD had blocked a payment that would have allowed N.O.I. to purchase security materials. Muhamad also said that HUD was backing out of an agreement to allow the group to set up security stations. No one with the federal agency could be reached for comment Sunday.

Selection of the Nation of Islam group had sparked protests from some Jewish leaders who consider Farrakhan’s teachings anti-Semitic. Members of the militant Jewish Defense League had vowed to send their own patrols into Oakwood to counter the Nation of Islam group. But such patrols were nowhere in sight Sunday.

Nevertheless, the arrival of the Nation of Islam group elicited mixed reactions. At one complex on Brooks Avenue, the guards, mostly young men with clean shaven heads and stern demeanors, streamed through the building shaking hands with curious tenants who stood in doorways to watch the proceedings.

“This is a marvelous day,” Regina Hyman, president of the Holiday Venice Tenant Action Committee, said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the occasion. “Everyone is pleased to finally see peaceful security--without guns--come in. And I think it’s already having an effect. People who used to stand and hang out outside our building are no longer there.”

But some residents in the neighborhood questioned what impact the patrols would have, saying it was likely that drug-dealing and gang activity that have debilitated the community would merely relocate.

“They can’t be everywhere at the same time,” said Bridget Peoples, 23, who leaned against a car parked next to the Brooks Avenue building and listened to the speakers.

Peoples also questioned whether the strongly disciplined, strictly religious Nation of Islam guards might provoke tensions in the neighborhood.

“People are not going to stay in their homes and not party just because they are out there,” she said. “One night some guy is going to walk down the street drunk, (one of the guards) is going to say something to him, and it’s going to start a riot.”

But many other residents welcomed the group as offering a positive example to young people that might succeed where law enforcement efforts have failed.