Founder Curtis Sliwa at Kings Cross station during a visit to Sydney in 1992. Credit:Steve Christo/Fairfax Media Now Mr Makridis, with the backing of Mr Sliwa, is hoping to recruit Melbourne members to expand the group's Australian patrols beyond its only other chapter, in Logan, Queensland. So far, Mr Makridis – who knows several types of martial arts and says he is "proficient in self-defence" – is the only member, after another man who joined recently pulled out of the group. But he aspires to grow the movement through social media channels. "I’m hoping for enough members to be able to broaden our community work, whatever it may be – syringe collection, litter picking, crime prevention, any of those things helping the community," he says.

The Guardian Angels international logo. Credit:Guardian Angels Victoria Australia/Facebook "It is a community-based organisation that does community activities to help out the community." Mr Makridis decided to create the group after the alleged murder and rape of international student Aiia Maasarwe, who was killed after getting off the tram in Bundoora. He describes this event as "the last straw". Codey Herrmann, 20, has been charged over Ms Maasarwe's death. Since March, the 53-year-old has been doing patrols almost every day, and sometimes at night, around Preston train station and other locations such as the Richmond supervised injecting centre, where he picks up used syringes and disposes of them safely. He rejects the term "vigilante", a label often used to describe the group's members.

"To me a vigilante is someone who would be lawless, who would operate outside the law, driven by hate or revenge or something like that," he says. "The Guardian Angels are no such things. We operate well within the law, with strict policies and procedures, making sure we are unarmed, operating in co-operation with police, not getting in their way and so on." Mr Makridis picks up and disposes of syringes in Richmond during one patrol, in a video posted to Facebook. Credit:Guardian Angels Victoria Australia/Facebook He also rejects any similarities with self-proclaimed "patriot" groups such as the Soldiers of Odin, a vigilante-style group that began running "safety patrols" in Melbourne's CBD in 2016 to counteract what it claimed was the police's inability to protect the public from rising street crime. "The Guardian Angels are a diverse organisation," Mr Makridis says.

"We don’t discriminate, so obviously colour, race, gender, creed etc doesn’t matter ... We don’t allow politics or religion to dictate how we go about what we do." In addition to trying to address drug-related issues in Richmond, Mr Makridis said another priority was what he described as Melbourne's "gang problem". "That's something I can't tackle as yet. I'm aware of that ... with a visible presence, that crime deterrence comes in. In numbers, we can work to have that happening, if there are enough of us to do so." A police spokeswoman encouraged members of the public who witness or are a victim of crime to call triple zero first to request police assistance.

"We strongly discourage anyone from partaking in behaviour which can place themselves or others at risk of harm if they attempt to confront an offender," she said. "Victoria Police is well-equipped, trained and resourced to respond to safety concerns in the community." Mr Makridis on patrol. Credit:Guardian Angels Victoria Australia/Facebook Mr Sliwa told The Age he had authorised Mr Makridis to organise the Melbourne chapter. "Recently he traveled from Victoria to Logan," Mr Sliwa said of the Melbourne leader.

"He spent two full days patrolling with our Logan Guardian Angels chapter and working with our Australian co-ordinator Ed Horney. He had a great visit and Michael is now organising a Melbourne Guardian Angels chapter with the help and assistance of Ed Horney." The Guardian Angels have expanded to 13 countries and 130 cities over four decades, but have also faced some criticism since their inception in New York, with allegations arising in the 1990s that some members were inexperienced and not trained for dangerous situations. In the case of Mr Makridis, he doesn't consider himself a superhero in a costume out to save the city – he's just an ordinary citizen trying to help his community. "It’s not my job to chase the criminals, that's the police's job, but as a visible deterrent, if I can prevent one or any of those things happening, I'd say my job is done."