This year’s annual National Night Out, a nationwide event aimed at improving relationships between police officers and the communities they serve will take place on August 2.
Neighbors will participate across thousands of communities from all 50 states, United States territories, Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide. In 2015, 38.3 million people participated in NNO events.
“There were incidents during the year leading up to NNO that did not portray local law enforcement very favorably,” Matt Peskin, NNO’s national project coordinator, said last year. “We could sense that communities were using National Night Out as a way to highlight the job local law enforcement is doing and how powerful their partnership is with local police.”
Throughout the nation, along with the traditional ‘lights on’ and front porch vigils, there will be tens of thousands of block parties, cookouts, parades, potlucks, ice cream socials, neighborhood visits by local police, flashlight walks, safety fairs, poster contests, festivals and other events and activities for communities to enjoy alongside their local law enforcement officers. Community members will have a chance to meet and socialize and ask questions of those who “serve and protect” their neighborhoods.
The Bethlehem Police Department will host their NNO event at Elm Avenue Park in Bethlehem and the Guilderland Police Department will host theirs at Tawasentha Park in Altamont. Details are as follows.
