The girl was taken on Friday afternoon and returned to her neighborhood later that day.

Police believe the kidnapper was driving a gray "muscle car" in a 70's or 80's style when he sped away after returning the crying girl to her neighborhood.

Now, residents of the Emeril Street neighborhood, which consists of 11 small houses and a duplex in north Salt Lake, joined together to help police find the assailant.

The citizens have organized a Mobile Neighborhood Watch Program to take control of their community and assist police with finding the kidnapper.

The Mobile Neighborhood Watch Program was started in 1994 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. by Lance Winslow.

The Crime Prevention unit for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office includes a Neighborhood Watch and Mobile Watch Program.

According to Deputy Meyer, who is over the Crime Prevention Unit for Salt Lake County Sheriffs office, a Mobile Watch is a break off of a Neighborhood Watch Program.

Those who participate in the Mobile Watch Program have to go through a criminal background investigation.

"They can't have any type of criminal record," Meyer said.

A neighborhood watch program can deter criminal activities, according to the Web site lancewinslow.org.

"We rely on citizens taking an active part of their community," Meyer said. "There's definitely a reduction in crime in those neighborhoods that have an active program."

The Mission Statement of the Mobile Neighborhood Watch Program says the goal is to help local police departments by "becoming the eyes and ears of the community."

"They don't intervene, they don't confront people, they're just really good witnesses," Meyer said

The Utah Council for Crime Prevention offers annual training for those interested in starting neighborhood watch programs.

According to Mike Milne, executive assistant for the Utah Council for Crime Prevention, the council also supplies the signs that go on cars for the Mobile Watch Program.

"When someone calls wanting to get a Neighborhood Watch Program set up, we will send them out a package of information explaining what the program is, what its designed to do, what they can do and what they should not do," Meyer said.

"Once they have the packet and establish a coordinator for their neighborhood, then we will in turn come out will some deputies and some of the sheriffs volunteers and have a training session that gets them up and running," he said.

Meyer said that there is a very good participation in Salt Lake County with the Neighborhood Watch programs.

There will be a conference on Nov. 6 that will give updated information to those interested in Neighborhood Watch Programs. The conference will be at the new Davis County convention center in Layton.