By Scott Harvey
Commerce – A recent string of crime in one Commerce neighborhood is prompting residents to ask, "What can we do."
Friday night will feature the second of what will become monthly meetings at the Norris Community Center to work toward the development of a crime watch.
Community Resources Officer Alex Suarez says the first meeting was held last month. The Department plans to meet with residents each month to help set up a crime watch.
"So that they can know what to report and what to look for," Suarez said. "One of the things that we need as a police department to help them to deter the crime and to get rid of some of the crime that's going on down there."
Residents in the Norris Community approached the police department earlier this year following a recent string of crimes that included a couple of shootings.
Suarez says, "When the criminals are being watched they're going to move somewhere else. Hopefully they'll go somewhere else other than the City of Commerce. But either way, if we can get them out of one area then we can concentrate it and put pressure on them to where they'll either end up in jail or they'll stop."
Officer Suarez hopes this is the start of what becomes a city-wide crime watch program.
Friday's meeting begins at 6 p.m. from the Norris Community Center, 1007 M L King Drive.