By Gregory “Greggy” Carey–
It all started as a response to a crisis. Reports of two or three violent robberies with associated sexual attacks in the Castro in 2006 brought a response from more than 100 local residents with the common message, “This should not be happening in our community.” Castro Community on Patrol (also known as Castro Patrol or CCOP) was established and for the first two years nine volunteers formed three patrol teams every Friday and Saturday night to watch over the safety of friends, neighbors, and visitors.
The original issue quickly disappeared, but the need for prevention continues for various reasons, including the national political theatre of finding a way to blame the queer community for some new but obscure reason (currently drag performances and trans people) to continue to elect ultra-fascists (rebranded as “conservatives”) during the lead-up to the presidential election every four years.
The need for safety patrols continues, but since the pandemic the number of trained CCOP volunteers has dropped to below a dozen. As a result, walking patrols have dropped to one or two per month because we need at least three Patrollers to field a team safely. We still assist with special events such as the Castro Street Fair and the Navy band concert held in Jane Warner Plaza for Fleet week, but you will often see the same faces each time because of our low number of helpers.
As a result, CCOP has turned its attention to improving personal safety through free or low-cost trainings. One example is the return of our popular Basic Self-Defense workshop, which has trained over 3000 people through the years. We also began delivery of Active Shooter workshops for businesses after the ClubQ mass shooting in Colorado in 2022. We have a companion Active Shooter workshop for the general public ready, but have been unable to locate enough public interest for such a class so far.
Steve Ayala, a local university student, wrote a research paper in 2008 studying CCOP and similar groups across the nation. He learned that most groups like CCOP failed to survive beyond twelve months. The prime reason was that the original crisis that caused the group to form quickly dissipated and the original volunteers lost interest because there no longer seemed to be a need. Often, the original threat remained in the background and reappeared in some form later. He found that groups with a longer success changed their focus from being reactive (confronting a specific danger) to proactive (making changes to prevent reoccurrence of similar problems).
Based on this knowledge, a primary theme of Castro Patrol has been “a visible safety presence.” Our teams of three or four people in bright orange uniforms are a deterrent to those seeking to cause harm. A successful patrol is not filled with adventure, but reflects a quiet evening where we help strangers find their way to a train or specific business or come upon someone needing medical assistance. In addition to the walking patrols, we have distributed more than 100,000 safety whistles with instructive literature to help people be more self-aware. Our theme is “Take Care of Yourself, Take Care of Your Friends, and Take Care of Your Neighbors.”
In order to keep the commitment of time reasonable, a Castro Patrol volunteer is only asked to commit to a single 3-hour patrol each month. We have changed the process of training from a pre-scheduled event four times a year to an on-demand, virtual (Zoom) initial session to fit into a potential volunteer’s busy life. We gladly train individuals. An even more effective training session involves two or more friends who want to patrol together. To learn more about CCOP or to schedule an initial training, just drop an email to info@castropatrol.org
Gregory “Greggy” Carey is the Chief of Patrol for Castro Patrol, which he joined as a volunteer in 2007. Originally from South Dakota, he was a co-founder of the first South Dakota queer organization, the Sioux Empire Gay and Lesbian Coalition. In 1983, he led the creation of the Eastern Dakota AIDS Network, He and his life partner Rahn moved to the Bay Area in 1991 and married in 2008.
Published on December 7, 2023
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