The Castro is a unique place. It's one of the few places in the world where we as LGBT people can be ourselves. It's a neighborhood where we can live our lives – and show our love – without the fear of negative reactions and reprisals that so many in our community grew up experiencing on a daily basis. The Castro is our home. It's the one place where we're supposed to feel safe.
But, are we really safe in the Castro? Unfortunately, not as safe as many think. Although the Castro is by no means a dangerous neighborhood, it is not the bubble that many LGBT people assume it is. Attacks on our community on our home turf are nothing new. Gay bashers have targeted the Castro for decades. And, anyone who has lived or spent time here knows that crime is an issue. Indeed, in the past six months, three gay men have been raped in the Castro, all on or near 18th Street between Hartford and Sanchez – in the heart of our neighborhood. Robberies, home invasions, and gay bashings have continued to occur.
The police have responded admirably to these attacks, but they can only do so much, given limited resources. As a result, we need to watch out for our own. Castro residents, and LGBT people generally, need to keep an eye out to make sure that if our neighbors – our people – are attacked, they are not alone.
That is why we, and other like-minded people, organized Castro Community on Patrol, a community-based, volunteer-driven organization. CCOP's simple but important missions are to patrol and keep an eye on our neighborhood, to help when problems arise, and to educate the community about how to stay safe. We work closely with the San Francisco Police Department, SF Safe, Community United Against Violence, and Triangle Martial Arts to accomplish these goals.
CCOP's primary role is to patrol the Castro, both watching out for problems and creating a presence to help deter crime. Each Friday and Saturday night, three groups of three people monitor different areas of the Castro, extending from Duboce Park to 20th Street and from Church Street to Douglass Street. When the volunteer patrols observe problems – ranging from major issues like crimes in progress to lesser issues like burnt out streetlights that can lead to dark and dangerous backstreets – they report these incidents. For crimes in progress (for example, one of our patrols recently observed an armed robbery of a store), volunteers are trained to call 911 and to write down what they see so that they can be good witnesses. For less time-sensitive situations, like the burnt out light, volunteers keep notes of the issues for later reporting to the appropriate city agency.
CCOP volunteers are not law enforcement personnel. We train volunteers, with participation from SFPD, not to get involved in crimes in progress as a police officer would. The patrols are not vigilantes. Rather, we are additional eyes and ears – good neighbors to keep an eye out on the neighborhood, to be visible, and to report problems so that they can be addressed.
The patrols also have the positive effect of creating a presence in the neighborhood. Whether in the busy areas of the Castro or the dark side streets, people see the patrols. They serve as a reminder that crime does occur in the Castro and that they need to be alert and aware – that they aren't automatically safe when they walk home at night. For those who don't have good intentions, they may think twice about victimizing our community.
The patrols serve an educational function as well. We stop and talk to people to make sure they are aware of the problems that have occurred. Unfortunately, many have not heard about the problems, meaning that education is that much more important. We also distribute whistles to people for use if they are attacked. We have distributed over a thousand whistles so far and are patterning the distribution after past efforts, such as the Butterfly Brigade of the 1980s and CUAV's program in the 1990s.
Castro Community on Patrol can be a long-term, highly effective way for our community to protect and care for each other – to help reverse the modern urban trend of people having no idea, and not particularly caring about, what is going on with their neighbors. However, to accomplish this goal and to ensure that the patrols are sustainable, we will need many volunteers on an ongoing basis – volunteers to patrol and volunteers to help with logistics.
In light of the recent highly publicized rapes and other crime in the Castro, many people have stepped forward to go through the training and to participate in the patrols. The community has also been very generous financially, although we will need much more financial support. We encourage residents and non-residents alike to join us and to ensure that CCOP becomes a long-term building block in this neighborhood that we all own.
Scott Wiener, Carlton Paul, and Kurt Cooper are board members of Castro Community on Patrol. The next training for patrol volunteers is Saturday, January 28 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Magnet, 4122 18th Street. To sign up, to contribute, or to get involved, e-mail [email protected].