The Guardian Angels are deploying a dozen civilian crime-fighters to neighborhoods that have been hit hard by a surge in commercial burglaries tied to the coronavirus crisis, founder Curtis Sliwa said Tuesday.
Six teams of two Angels each will patrol the South Bronx from around 3 p.m. to midnight Tuesday, distributing flyers in both English and Spanish and seeking information about break-ins and other problems at local stores, Sliwa told The Post.
“We’ll be stopping by, asking the owners if everything’s OK,” he said.
Sliwa, who likened the operation to a “wellness check,” said his group mounted a similar effort in Manhattan’s Washington Heights on Monday and would also target high-crime areas in Queens and Brooklyn.
Sliwa said the coronavirus outbreak has led many 24-hour corner stores and bodegas to scale back their hours, leaving them ripe for burglaries.
“The local thugs know that. And they know they can either bore in through the roof or bore into the back, or do a smash and grab if necessary,” he said.
In addition, Sliwa said, last week’s guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people to wear “cloth face coverings” in public lets crooks easily shield themselves from surveillance cameras without attracting attention.
“It’s called ‘flags up,'” he said. “They can be waving at the cameras and you will never be able to identify them because they’re wearing masks. The criminals know the deck is stacked in their favor.”
The coronavirus-related anti-crime patrols follow earlier efforts by the Guardian Angels to give away food to homeless and emotionally disturbed people — but only if they sanitize their hands first.
Last month, Sliwa — who co-hosts a midday radio talk show on 77 WABC — announced plans to run for mayor in 2021.
Data released Monday by the NYPD showed that 254 businesses were burglarized between March 12 — when Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic — and March 31, up 75 percent from the 145 recorded during the same time period last year.
Thieves “are taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation and targeting stores that have to be closed because of the executive order,” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri said.