WEST VALLEY CITY -- For two months in 1994, feisty great-grandmother Darlene Averett went undercover.
She turned a room inside her house on 3310 West into a makeshift dispatch center. Her neighbors radioed her on CBs with crime tips, focusing on what was happening at a suspected drug house, a 72-unit apartment complex on Harvey Street.There, a woman prostituted her two teenage daughters for drugs. Buyers brought glass pipes and bongs to smoke their drugs. In one apartment, 40 people stopped by in a day to buy drugs.
There were so many drugs at the apartment complex that volunteers on foot patrols could smell them blocks away.
Averett reported all this to West Valley police officer Jim Crowley. He compiled the evidence.
At 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, 1994, Crowley called Averett.
"We're going to have a party," he said.
Averett and husband, Bill, drove their white Lincoln Town Car to a bus stop at the corner of Lancer Way and Harvey Street to watch the show.
From there, they could see 200 law enforcement officers, SWAT teams, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the local police.
"Come out with your hands up," an officer said on a loudspeaker.
Darlene turned to Bill and said, "It's finally over."
There were 60 arrests that day.
And on Thursday, 61-year-old Darlene Averett was honored by the West Valley City Council for her crime-fighting efforts, including the largest multiagency SWAT raid in Utah's history.
Specifically, she was recognized for forming the Granger Heights Neighborhood Watch in May 1993. The watchful eyes of the gray-hair set have worked with local police to capture more than 100 crooks to date.
"I'm totally committed to the Neighborhood Watch," Averett said. "It's been my pleasure to do what I've done. But I couldn't have done it without them," she added, pointing to her 15 neighbors who packed City Hall Thursday night.
When Darlene and Bill Averett bought their home in 1960, their neighborhood was a picture of serenity -- children playing in the cool shadows of trees, dogs cavorting and neighbors gathering for picnics or Sunday night dinner.
After the children left home, the Averetts moved, too. In 1982, they packed their bags to California, where Bill owned and operated a truck and repair service. They rented out their house in West Valley City.
In 1992, they moved back to their old Granger Heights neighborhood and noticed the deterioration. Gang members and prostitutes had become an ugly presence.
The Averetts had their basement flooded at the hands of bored kids. Their elderly neighbor was robbed. They witnessed a drive-by shooting down the street. Darlene Averett had just about enough.
"I can't live like this," she told Bill.
She formed the Granger Heights Neighborhood Watch, now one of 96 neighborhood associations in West Valley City.
It began with six people, armed with borrowed hand-held radios, strolling the streets. They became a familiar presence to their neighborhood cop, Jim Crowley.
Eventually, the group grew to 30 people, patrolling six nights a week. They listened to police scanners, used their personal cell phones and CBs to report anything suspicious to Crowley.
"We became like one big family," Averett said.
She got to know her neighbors like Del Anderson, Jay Barney and Wendy Carter.
Together her Neighborhood Watch group accomplished much, including:
Capturing a gang member who shot police detective Bob Idle in August 1997.
Building a park on Harvey Street.
Changing the school crosswalk so neighborhood children wouldn't have to walk down Harvey Street to get to school.
Protesting against slumlords for shabby rental units.
Providing Christmas for needy area families.
Most pleasing to Averett was stopping Kenny Vieregge from molesting another young boy.
When Vieregge had been released from prison after serving time for his 1982 child-sodomy conviction, Crowley told Averett to keep an eye out for him.
About noon on a summer day, she was driving on Harvey Street. Then she saw Vieregge lure three young boys with promises of beer and cigarettes into his 1988 Bonneville.
She radioed Crowley. "He's got three boys," she said.
Averett figured he'd be back to drop off the boys. She parked her Lincoln on Harvey Street. She waited.
Six hours later, she saw Vieregge again.
"Jim, he's here," she said, talking into her CB.
Within seconds police arrested him.
In June 1998, Vieregge was sentenced to an indeterminate term of up to five years at the Utah State Prison after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted forcible sodomy.
Averett suspects he won't be back her neighborhood. That makes her smile.