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You’ve heard of neighborhood watch groups, now residents in a middle Tennessee neighborhood are hoping a Neighborhood business watch can keep shoppers and employees safe.
After starting an aggressive neighborhood watch and patrolling their own neighborhood, residents in the Farmingdale Subdivision in La Vergne saw a drastic reduction in crime.
Now, that same group is wanting to start a business neighborhood watch after a string of robberies.
La Vergne resident Gwendolyn Anthony is on a mission.
“I’m going to have a meeting and I want you to be there,” Anthony told a store owner.
Anthony has been going from business to business, hoping to get them to join a business neighborhood watch.
“It’s so important for residents to feel safe and business owners to feel safe in the city of La Vergne,” Anthony said. “Most business owners up there are saying yeah they are in a little fear because they know the Dollar Store has been robbed, they know Mapco has been robbed, now the Tobacco store has been robbed.”
Several businesses along Waldron Road have been the target of robberies, some violent.
The night of April 2, the Waldron Road Tobacco & Beer was robbed at gunpoint.
A man brandishing a Tec 9 pistol demanded money in a brown paper bag.
The robbery was capture on video.
“As a resident of this area I want to feel safe when I go up there,” Anthony said. “I don’t want to enter a business and their getting robbed and somebody got a gun and walk in there and get shot or something because of the times we live in.”
The businesses are near Interstate 24, and Anthony thinks that’s one of the reasons they are being robbed.
“They could come in one of those businesses and do what they got to do, and nobody will know whoever did what because 24 is right there,” she said.
Anthony is also encouraging store owners to remove posters and signs off their windows and doors.
“You have to have your door ways and your windows free,” she said. “You shouldn’t have all those posters and papers and stuff blocking your vision because it wouldn’t serve a purpose if we get the police to patrol and they can’t see inside your business. Because somebody could be in there robbing you and the police could be riding past, but they can’t see in there.”
Sergio Mendoza owns BD Alterations Dry Cleaning.
There have been robberies and attempted robberies near his business including the Mapco next door, and the Dollar General across the street.
He said he is worried since the businesses are so close.
Mendoza likes the idea of business owners watching out for each other.
“I think they are very close to me, am I worried too; I’m worried because it’s too close for me,” Mendoza said. “If they do this, what I can expect how to be ready just in case something happens. So, I think that’s a good idea.”
He thinks a business neighborhood watch is exactly what’s needed.
“I think it’s a great idea because we can watch each other, you know, the business owners, maybe we can feel more safe,” Mendoza said. “It’s a good idea.”
A La Vergne Police Community Liaison Officer and Anthony are planning a meeting to inform the business owners how the business neighborhood watch would work and how it would be beneficial to their businesses.
The meeting should take place in the next week or so.
