Guardian Angels are patrolling Barcelona, but not everyone is pleased to see them

¡°The so-called citizen patrols who go after pickpockets on the [Barcelona] Metro are not doing any good. They are increasing the sense of insecurity and using tactics that are bordering on criminal offenses.¡± That was what a spokesperson from the Catalan regional police force, the Mossos d¡¯Esquadra, told EL PA?S this week.

Society is fed up and that¡¯s why we are getting increasingly organized

Eliana Guerrero, founder of Patrulla Ciudadana

As crime rates continue to soar in Barcelona, citizen patrol groups have taken the initiative in a bid to stop suspected thieves operating on the city¡¯s subway system.

This week, five uniformed members of the self-styled Barcelona Guardian Angels began patrolling the Metro. The group is modeled after the New York Guardian Angels, a controversial volunteer crime-prevention organization that was created in the Bronx at the end of the 1970s, which has since been deployed in several countries. The Guardian Angels style themselves as a kind of not-for-profit, self-organizing group of citizens, trained primarily in martial arts, who fight for justice at their own cost and risk.

The Barcelona Guardian Angels are a splinter group from Patrulla Ciudadana (Citizen Patrol), another self-organized crime-busting operation that reached peak popularity in July. This organization is run by Eliana Guerrero, a 47-year-old real estate agent from Colombia who began patrolling the Barcelona subway system 12 years ago, whistle and pepper spray in hand.

In response to the group¡¯s growing popularity, Barcelona¡¯s recently named head of security, Albert Batlle, said in June that he would seek to stop the citizen patrols. ¡°The responsibility for security, public order and social harmony ordinance falls to City Hall, we can¡¯t have self-organized groups. It¡¯s extremely dangerous,¡± he said.

But Guerrero insisted on Tuesday that Patrulla Ciudadana is as active as ever, with 50 members of the group patrolling Barcelona¡¯s Metro system every day. The Catalan police deny this, arguing that officers stop members of citizen patrols when they spot them on security cameras.

The so-called citizen patrols who go after pickpockets on the Metro are not doing any good

Catalan regional police spokesperson

¡°It¡¯s easy to blame the people that we have had to organize. Why don¡¯t they put all that energy toward fighting pickpockets?¡± asked Guerrero. ¡°Society is fed up and that¡¯s why we are getting increasingly organized.¡±

The Barcelona Guardian Angels are headed by Nicole Orlando, a 41-year-old woman who was born in New York and has lived in Barcelona for 13 years. She says she started the group after falling out with Guerrero.

¡°I have a box with mementos from my country. In it, there is a card from the Guardian Angels. I remembered them and after some disagreements with Eliana [Guerrero], I contacted the leader, Curtis Sliwa,¡± Orlando said on Tuesday.

The Barcelona Guardian Angels have five members, and each wears a red beret, white shirt with the logo of the organization and black pants with large pockets. It¡¯s a paramilitary look. The group is made up of Orlando, who goes by the name ¡°Kiddo¡± when she is on patrol; ¡°Rio,¡± a young woman from the Philippines; ¡°Sarge,¡± a former policeman from England; ¡°Ice,¡± who is Scottish; and ?¡°Sifu,¡± the only member who was born in Catalonia, and who is in charge of teaching the group martial arts. They have done self-defense courses and trained in a method designed by Sliwa, the guru and founder of the Guardian Angels.

In July, Tito ?lvarez, a former labor union spokesperson who gained public prominence in Barcelona during the taxi sector¡¯s strikes over ride-hailing services such as Uber, also joined Guerrero in the fight against crime with an initiative called Salvalona, which he described as a ¡°citizen movement¡± to ¡°channel¡± popular unhappiness with crime rates in the city. ?lvarez supports ¡°people organizing in patrols so that tourists are not robbed¡± but is against the neighborhood groups that have been protesting against insecurity, claiming they are organized by members of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), a self-organized, pro-Catalan independence group responsible for a series of disruptive actions in the region.

Meanwhile, Orlando said she has not made any ¡°arrests¡± yet, but if she does catch a thief ¡°red-handed,¡± she will detain them and call the police.

English version by Melissa Kitson.