Amid Metro’s spike in violent crime, a volunteer enforcement group will increase its patrol this weekend. D.C. Guardian Angels, which uses unarmed youth—as young as 15 years old—to patrol city transit, announced it will step up its force on the Red Line.

In August, the group began patrolling the NoMa­-Galludet University and Rhode Island Metro stations as well as the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Two weeks prior, the group’s Mid-Atlantic operations director, John Ayala said he met with Mayor Muriel Bowser, who suggested that they cover the Red Line’s northeast section— stemming from the fatal stabbing of a congressional intern on July 4.

In December, one Red Line passenger was left with a broken jaw after an attack on the Red Line, causing the angels to ramp up patrol.

The Alliance of Guardian Angels originally started in New York, patrolling the city’s subway system. The non-profit group’s D.C. chapter launched in 1979, and has since monitored Metro stations, buses, and trains.

In the past, the angels have been successful in detaining Metro disrupters until they were taken into transit police custody. But rare cases, the heroes have become victims, and even assaulters.

But generally, the group’s mission remains positive, and they’ve been welcomed as citizens acting within good faith by D.C. police.

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