Residents in Catahoula say they’ve seen a decrease in theft and burglaries since starting a community-wide watch group.

Over the past 3-5 years, more people from outside of the small knit community have moved to Catahoula and residents say since then there’s been an increase in crime and drug activity.

“I’m 48 years old and I’ve been here my entire life. Things have definitely gotten worse as I’ve gotten older and I think the community coming together has definitely helped out I’ve seen drug crime go down tremendously since we started this neighborhood watch,” says Shannon Savoie. He is just one of the 60 residents that has a neighborhood watch sign in their front yard.

“More and more people are starting to watch out for each other. When we leave our neighbors are definitely watching our place and will send pictures if they see strange vehicles in our yard,” says Savoie.

The town has been divided into 15 sections with residents watching out for each other and holding those who commit crime in their close-knit community accountable.

“There’s no obstacles that will prevent this community from achieving its objectives and its goals. They’ve done more than talk they have walked the walk,” says St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars.

The group says they have partnered with the St. Martin Parish Crimestoppers which is helped tremendously. The next meeting will take place on February 21st at 6:30 at the Catahoula Multipurpose Building.