After warnings from Allenstown police that it may not be safe for children to walk alone to and from school, some residents have banded together to form a neighborhood watch group.

Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney began the effort days after police first reported to Allenstown schools about a “credible threat” to children, in the form of a sexual predator who’d been released from custody and who’d reportedly moved to Allenstown.

Because of privacy laws, and because the individual isn’t on the state’s public registry of sex offenders, police haven’t revealed the person’s identity.

“No one even knows what he looks like,” said McKenney. “The only thing I know for sure is that he’s still in town.”

McKenney said she hoped to get about a dozen people together in the watch group, and also hoped to get some guidance from the police department. She said volunteers could stand on street corners on popular student walkways – near Armand Dupont School and Allenstown Elementary School – and monitor children’s walks to school.

“I think just our presence could make a big difference,” McKenney said.

McKenney said she hoped the group could stay active, even if the current situation is resolved.

“We do have other sex offenders in this town,” she said. “If it’s not him, it could be someone else. This just brought it to light for me.”