Keep Angels Off Border

When we heard about the proposal for Rancho Bernardo residents to patrol their neighborhood, we thought it was a bad idea. But it’s almost brilliant compared with the Guardian Angels’ plan to interject themselves into the violent situation along the international border.

Neighborhood Watch programs, operated with the cooperation of police and sheriff’s departments, are fine. Asking residents to drive around at night watching for crime is a mistake. Among our concerns are whether volunteers would have the discipline to never try to thwart crime and whether innocent visitors might be subjected to unnecessary questioning.

As for the Guardian Angels, they would be placing themselves--and possibly legitimate law enforcement officers--in grave danger if they tried to patrol the no-man’s land east of the San Ysidro border crossing or Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, where even the police hate to go.

While the Guardian Angels leader said his group wants to deter crimes against aliens, these amateur crime fighters--unarmed and wearing their red berets--would be little more than objects of ridicule to the armed bandits who are not even deterred by uniformed police officers. The Border Patrol and Police Department already have an unmanageable task. To add the Guardian Angels to the border mix would only make matters worse.