Frustrated by a lack of official action on homophobic violence, Sydney's gay and lesbian community will organise its own security patrols at popular events and party venues. The GenQ Street Angels want volunteers with policing, military, security or medical experience to join. They could be patrolling in Sydney's Oxford Street precinct and the King Street strip in Newtown as early as the first weekend in November. Organiser and GenerationQ.net founder Andrew Stopps said he hoped the patrols would initially focus on Friday and Saturday nights between 9pm and 3am, when as many as 10,000 partygoers flood Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Paddington. "We're hoping that just by their presence, the Angels will deter people from any sort of threatening behaviour," Mr Stopps said. He stressed that the initiative would not be about vigilantism. But, he said, if people were now scared to venture out at night it was time to do something about it. Recent polls in gay and lesbian newspaper The Star Observer revealed about 70% of readers believed Oxford Street was unsafe. Fewer than 35% thought increased police patrols were enough to remedy the situation and almost 60% said they were in favour of community security patrols. Most trouble seemed to happen outside clubs that allowed queueing patrons to cluster on the footpath, Stopps said - "This is where abuse and violence starts." A New South Wales Police spokesman said it could not endorse the formation of vigilante groups and urged victims of homophobic violence to report it immediately. Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (m)