A ragtag band of nine volunteer crime fighters lined up on the north side of the park Thursday for their first patrol.

They spanned many generations, from young kung fu students and their master to an elderly man with a hearing aid and more enthusiasm than crime-fighting skills. They included a blond, 40-something mother with a red shirt matching her beret, and a Midvale couple dressed in black.

And there was Randy Harrison, an excitable marketing man who helped put the event together. He wore a borrowed red nylon Guardian Angels windbreaker jacket, matching running pants and a hooded short-sleeve shirt with laces on the neck line. A black fingerless glove covered his left hand.

"I couldn't find my other glove," said Harrison, the group's public relations guru.

This wasn't the trained group of martial-arts experts the Guardian Angels are known to put on patrol in some of the roughest neighborhoods across the country.

But for Gary Silcock, the head of the new Salt Lake City chapter, it's a start.

Harrison and Silcock have worked to put together the chapter for the past five weeks, ever since the organization's founder, Curtis Sliwa, came to town announcing the non-profit's expansion into Salt Lake City and Ogden.

Like many who joined the group's first training patrol in Pioneer Park last week, , Silcock said he was fed up with criminals intimidating others and making public spaces uninviting to the public.

Childhood memories of groups of citizen street patrollers donning red berets fueled his desire to join, he said.

"I remember the red, and I remember they are people who had a lot of people's interests in mind," Silcock said. "I knew they were going to protect me."

After five years learning kung fu, Silcock said he hoped to put those skills to work to protect others. The 32-year-old audio engineer who records language lessons by day hopes to now take to the streets and parks by night to clean up Salt Lake City.

"I, at least, want the underdog - and I've been one - to know there's good people out there who are watching out for them," Silcock said. "I want people to know if there's a villain out there, we're there, too."

The group set out for a "training patrol" headed by the Guardian Angels' regional director, Frank Lee.

They formed two lines and walked together through the park about 6:30 p.m. as about a dozen mostly homeless people remained scattered about.

The reactions from people in the park varied. A large man yelled at Lee to "step up" and refused to shake his hand. Others smiled and said hello. One man handed Harrison a note with his telephone number and asked for help getting off drugs.

Lee stopped for a few minutes to talk to two homeless men he met on his first visit to Salt Lake City last month. He told his followers the men could become valuable informants. The walk-through lasted less than 30 minutes.

Lee told the group that to some it appeared they had accomplished nothing other than meeting new people. But the group's presence alone would deter "bad elements," he said, and a trained group of Guardian Angels could have done more.

Lee, a sturdy man with a sense of humor but little patience for disrespect, asked his volunteers if they noticed a man in a long-sleeve white shirt. A few nodded yes.

"If we had experienced Guardian Angels here, he would have been on the ground," Lee told the group. "I know he has narcotics on him."

As the overhead lights from a Salt Lake City firetruck flashed in the background, a group went over to discover the man who Lee had spoken of was, indeed, now on the ground. Firefighters were responding to help him with a medical problem.

Four members of the Salt Lake City police bike patrol stood by as the man was treated. Angels shook hands with the officers and explained who they were.

Officer Jose Florez said he knew little about the group but welcomed "extra eyes" in the park.

"I think we'll get along just fine," Florez said.

It's street cops who typically appreciate the Angels' presence the most, Lee said.

Silcock acknowledged that the group's reputation for making citizens' arrests and using martial-arts training to break up fights and hold criminals until a police officer shows could make some uneasy.

"I do understand how it could make people apprehensive," Silcock said. "You've got someone without a badge doing the job of someone with a badge."

The Salt Lake City Police Department has not taken a position on the Angels.

"Our approach to it is we don't support and aren't against it," spokesman Jeff Bedard said. "We're kind of taking an ambivalent stand on it."

As for citizens' arrests, Bedard said anyone performing one should study the letter of the law before trying it.

"We don't want people doing one thing to solve a problem and creating another one," Bedard said.

Sliwa has said the group was needed to clean up Pioneer Park and other areas where officers have failed. He blames Mayor Rocky Anderson for not devoting enough police resources to the problem.

The local chapter hosted its first martial-arts training Saturday. Silcock said he hoped more would join the effort. Once trained, Lee said, volunteers will make a bigger impact than simply strolling through parks and saying hello.

Lee offered a message for criminals:

"We're going to press the issue. We're just giving you the opportunity to get to know us first."

rrizzo@sltrib.com