After his sister's house break-in, Pontiac man vows to start neighborhood watch

Pontiac resident fed up with crime, to start neighborhood watch

On the same day Colten McAuley decided to start a neighborhood watch, he learned of a shooting at an apartment just one and half miles away.

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) -
Colten McAuley hasn't lived in Pontiac long, but enough to know he intends to help stop crime in the community.

"I'm sick of seeing vulnerable people getting targeted," said McAuley. "We need to protect other people's property also."

On the same day McAuley decided to start a neighborhood watch, he learned of a shooting at an apartment just one and half miles away. A 22-year-old was killed and three other men shot and in the hospital with no arrests.

Dawn Hannah is a cousin of one of the surviving victims.

"It's sad. It's sad that it's right in our backyard," Hannah said. "I'm actually trying to figure out how we can clean up this neighborhood right here. This has been going on for a long time now."

It's crimes like this that push McAuley to help - even though he's only called Pontiac home for two years.

"Coming from a rural town that has high crime I wanted to help this community also," he said. "What pushed me was my sister's break-in yesterday."

Broken glass from that break-in, is still on the driveway. When he went to make a report, he says he was told these crimes happen in his neighborhood.

"Saying that it's normal for this to happen is kind of disgusting to hear that," he said.

Being a criminal justice major, he researched how to start a neighborhood watch program.

"I just want as many people from the community as I can get, to start this group," he said.

First, he started a petition on Change.org and he also started a Facebook group.

"Getting the community back together," he said. "We are so divided and getting neighbors together and talking about these occurrences, this will help."

Now all he needs is neighbors like Terrance Little, a lifelong Pontiac resident, to get on board.

"I think it might be a good idea just so the word can spread a little bit better and everyone around here can be aware of what's going on this way or that way," he said.

Now he plans to speak with the sheriff's department and the city council to see if he can officially become a sanctioned neighborhood watch in Pontiac.