Sunday, August 4, 2013

66TH PRECINCT'S NATIONAL NIGHT OUT AGAINST CRIME


National Night Out Against Crime 2013
Tuesday, August 6th, 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

"The introduction of National Night Out, 'America’s Night Out Against Crime', in 1984 began an effort to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships, neighborhood camaraderie and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back."
                                                                      -- National Association of Town Watch

The 66th Precinct's National Night Out will gather at Gravesend Park (also called 18th Avenue Park) on 18th Avenue between 55th and 58th streets. The free event is both social and educational, offering safety education, food, and fun activities for the whole family. Meet the precinct's commanding officer--Deputy Inspector Michael Deddo--and Community Affairs officers.

 The goals of National Night Out are reasonable and inarguable: 

  1. Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
  2. Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
  3. Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
  4. Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

To meet these goals--or to achieve any degree of success in meeting them--communities and the precincts that serve them have to work together, cooperatively and with transparency.

This is National Night Out's 30th year. It's the second year in a row that the event has been held at Gravesend Park, located in Borough Park. Prior to that, it had been held at the precinct building, also located in Borough Park, since at least 2007.