On the first Tuesday in August, municipalities across the United States celebrate National Night Out, an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie, according to its website.
The National Association of Town Watch, founded in 1981, was established as a way to provide community watch groups with “the necessary information, resources and assets to stay informed, interested, involved and motivated within the community.”
Three years later in 1984, National Night Out was introduced in August to better connect neighborhoods and their respective police departments and other emergency responders. The first celebration, according to the website, involved 2.5 million community members across 400 communities in 23 states. Since then, the annual celebration has spread to every state and territory in the United States.
In an effort to build a stronger community, residents are encouraged to host and/or attend block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and more while viewing safety demonstrations, seminars and more with police officers, fire officials and EMTs.
Voorhees Township will celebrate its fifth annual National Night Out celebration at Connolly Park on Tuesday, Aug. 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Members and officials of the Voorhees Township Police Department and Voorhees Fire Department, as well as members of the Voorhees Township Committee, will be in attendance to welcome residents to the event filled with neighborhood competitions, carnival attractions, games, food and more.
“The best way to prevent crime is to know your neighbors and your surroundings,” said Mayor Michael Mignogna in his weekly Mayor’s Message last week. “National Night Out triumphs over a culture that isolates us from each other and allows us to rediscover our own communities.”
Community Affairs Division Sgt. Derek Hawkins helps orchestrate the events and planning, and says he is looking forward to the event in an effort to continue to build a strong relationship between the community and local law enforcement.
“It feels just like a Fourth of July in August,” said Hawkins. “It’s a planned event that a majority of New Jersey towns host. We’ll have a bunch of different tables and activities for families, with a bunch of food like water ice or ice cream and hot dogs.”
As residents throughout the community attend and enjoy the evening, law enforcement is planning to hand out pamphlets promoting safety precautions, such as summer safety during the heat, while also promoting healthy conversation to break negative stigma about police departments.
“The goal is for the public is to meet their police department, fire department, even public works and their elected committee,” said Hawkins. “They get to come out and have that community feeling. It’s something that every municipality can struggle with at times over the years, but our committee and mayor have done well with it over the years.”
Hawkins says the hope is the community is able to create and foster a relationship that can work in tandem on different issues as, and if, they arrive to better protect citizens.
