"If you're looking at contributing to public safety, there's areas where they can be participatory that have a real security challenge and safety challenge," Emanuel said.
Mayor Emanuel is showing little enthusiasm for the Guardian Angels' new effort to keep shoppers and visitors along North Michigan Avenue safe. Earlier this week they passed out flyers with the title: "Muggers Mile Safety Tips."
"The Magnificent Mile has become a hotspot and a hotbed for muggers to come here and prey upon victims," said Thomas Hunt, Guardian Angels.
On Wednesday, the mayor said Chicago police work every day to make Michigan Avenue secure and safe. And he suggested the Guardian Angels could be more useful in other parts of the city.
"There's school routes, there's playgrounds throughout the city that are challenged as it relates to gun violence. Do something that's helpful in that effort and I'm sure people will work with you on that on the community level," Emanuel said.
The Guardian Angels want the mayor to know that 99 percent of their patrols are not on the Magnificent Mile. One patrol on the CTA's Red Line last year ended with some Guardian Angels injured when they broke up a robbery. And just a few weeks ago the Guardian Angels say they passed along a tip that resulted in the arrest of a suspect in a rape at a Ukrainian Village bus stop.
