By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

The Guardian Angels, a New York-based volunteer crime fighting force, will patrol Dorchester's Ronan Park during the summer months at the request of the Boston Police Department.

The Angels announced last Wednesday that they had been asked to patrol the park after a meeting with Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. Both Davis and Mayor Thomas Menino had been hesitant to meet with leaders of the force, which had announced it would be reviving its Boston chapter of their crime patrol organization during the media blitz that followed the death of 22-year-old Chiara Levin, a New York resident who was shot and killed outside a Geneva Avenue house party on March 24.

While both Davis and Menino originally declined to meet with the Angels or their local host, Dorchester pastor Bruce Wall, Davis eventually held separate meetings with both the Angels and Wall last week.

Davis told the Reporter last Thursday that residents who live near Ronan Park have asked over the course of several months for an increased presence in the park, and that the same residents specifically requested that the Angels focus patrols there during the summer months.

"The community asked the Guardian Angels to go there," said Davis. "We have a plan in place, in partnership with Boston Police officers."

Bowdoin-Geneva activist Davida Andelman said that the idea to use the Angels in Ronan Park stems from a conversation with District C-11 Captain John Greland at a recent meeting of the Safe Neighborhood Initiative. Davis has named Greland liaison to the Angels, and Greland asked attendees at the meeting where they would like to see the Angels conduct regular patrols. Andelman says that a presence at Ronan Park, where several summer programs for area youths are scheduled, seemed logical.

"I know the police are stretched thin, and they are patrolling Geneva Avenue heavily, and we are thankful that we are seeing them but some of the side streets and Ronan Park need the eyes and ears of police as well. This would be a way to complement what they are doing."

Andelman said that specific plans such as what hours and for how long the Angels will patrol the park are still undecided.

According to a blog that the Angels have set up in conjunction with the Boston Herald, Angels will patrol the park with police radios and maintain a relationship with the police department through Captain Greland. According to the blog, the Angels will be subject to background checks by the police department and may be allowed to make citizens arrests.

The Guardian Angels did not return phone calls this week seeking comment.