Mike on Crime

EDMONTON (CP) – The founder of the Guardian Angels told a ‘graduation’ ceremony Sunday that both Calgary and Edmonton are in a “crisis of crime” that has brought the cities on par with the levels of violence in places like Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.

Curtis Sliwa told Guardian Angel volunteers and a few dozen family members in Edmonton that a booming population in Alberta has brought with it a dubious competition between the province’s two major cities.

Sliwa says due to a spate of recent violence, Calgary and Edmonton are now competing to see which city becomes the murder capital of Canada.

Six Edmonton members and two new Calgary members received group T-shirts, pins and certificates which signify that they have gone through two to three months of self defence and rudimentary first aid training.

Bill and Gail Yurko, both 69, say they don’t feel safe walking down their streets in east Edmonton, and say they hope the Guardian Angels will make a difference in the street crime they see in their neighbourhood.

Dave Schroder, the chapter leader in Edmonton, says his group hopes to prevent street crime, and even offer first aid to people who need it as they begin patrols in an inner city neighbourhood plagued by drugs, prostitution and gang activity.