An Aurora business owner told the City Council Monday that crime has gotten so bad he stays up all night watching surveillance cameras for his business.
Kenneth Shaw owns and operates a car wash at 16720 Iliff, at Buckley. Last August, a truck rammed into his front door in an attempt to get to “the heart of this operation,” Shaw said. Nothing was taken that time, but it cost $23,000 to repair the door, Shaw said. Then, in November, somebody broke in and stole $600 from a pay station, Shaw added.
Now Shaw can’t sleep at night. “I get out of bed and go to my laptop and watch the cameras at 2 a.m., and I watch them for four hours,” he told the council. “When I go to the other retailers in my retail center, they all say the same thing: We’ve got to create a vigilante group to protect ourselves.”
Shaw winced at the idea. “I’m a car wash guy. I just want to wash cars and make people happy.”
Police lacking leadership
Shaw said police are always polite when he calls. “They’re fantastic and care and they want to do this job.” But he added, “Something’s missing. What’s happening in our community right now affects all of us and we are all at risk.”