A community patrol that emerged on the streets of New York in the 1970s will bring its brand of justice and safety to Canberra streets next month.
But ACT's Police Minister Simon Corbell has expressed caution, saying there is no place for vigilante groups in the capital.
Dressed in red berets and printed white T-shirts, the Guardian Angels will establish their only Australian chapter in Canberra beginning with a small group of committed volunteers.
The safety patrol will focus on five areas in Canberra, wearing their distinctive red berets at Charnwood, Kippax, Lanyon and the Woden and Civic bus interchanges.
Local founder Damian Heffernan said he was inspired to establish the Canberra chapter after hearing about the fatal stabbing of Elizabeth Booshand at Charnwood shops in July 2008.
He said the incident was worrying, especially given the horrific event allegedly occurred in front of several children.
''I thought this is shocking that we can't think about current and future generations safely going down and picking up fish and chips on a Friday night,'' Mr Heffernan said.
Mr Heffernan said there were significant levels of crime occurring in the five areas, with the group aiming to give police assistance during times when they were under-resourced.
Police Minister Simon Corbell said Canberra usually ranked as one of Australia's two safest cities and there was no pressing crime problem.
He questioned why there was the need for such a group. ''There is no room for vigilante or paramilitary-type groups in community safety,'' he said.
Mr Corbell described Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa as a right-wing conservative commentator and encouraged those involved to give their time to existing organisations working to minimise crime, drug and alcohol problems.
The Guardian Angels was started more than 30 years ago in New York with the aim of providing greater safety in the city's dangerous areas. Members rode the New York subways and have claimed credit for much of the safety improvements made during recent years.
A chapter of the Guardian Angels was established in Sydney during the early 1990s but quickly folded.
The group claims to have 135 chapters in 13 countries.
Eight people have signed up as volunteers to the local chapter. Mr Heffernan said the group planned to patrol the five areas on Fridays and Saturdays, with their highly-visible presence and engagement with youth acting as a deterrent to crime.
The Guardian Angels are trained in self-defence and have familiarised themselves with a 50-page guide to citizens arrests.
Mr Heffernan said: ''Ninety per cent of the training is conflict resolution how to de-escalate a situation so it never occurs, the worst case scenario is to ever have violence occur or an arrest that's basically considered as a failure.''
The group is aiming for the bulk of its work to focus on safety information courses including anti-bullying programs with schools.
In addition to wearing the group's distinctive uniform, they also take on street names, with Mr Heffernan taking on the moniker of ''Sonic''.
Mr Heffernan began working on establishing a Canberra chapter 18 months ago and started training for his role two months later.
In the meantime he has gone on patrol in Japan and is set to take Canberra volunteers to South Africa for intense self-defence training.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and the group's founder in Japan, ''Duke'' are expected to launch the Canberra chapter next month.
An ACT Policing spokesman encouraged members of the public not to take matters into their own hands and to call police for assistance on 131444.
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