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By Marsha Augustin, Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) – Millions of people in neighborhoods throughout all 50 states take part in National Night Out.
It’s an annual event that takes place the first Tuesday in August. National Night Out promotes building police and community camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer and a more caring place to live.
National Night out in Syracuse is held by the Onondaga Sherriff’s Department and the City of Syracuse Police Department. There’s food, beverages, games for kids, police equipment and a chance to meet specialized police teams such as the SWAT and Diving teams.
Enhancing the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement is important to make sure the community is not afraid of the police, said Jon Seeber, Onondaga Sheriff’s Sergeant of Public Information.
He said iIt’s a great opportunity to bring police and the people in the community they serve to get together and interact with each other.
Partnerships with people and police are important and the department strongly encourages it.
“People are a great asset in helping solve crimes,” Seeber said.
Syracuse law enforcement has Tip lines, Tip emails and the Tip 41 app available to help the community and police work together.
Denaka Mesa said events like National Night Out are important for her kids to see police as positive community leaders.
“This lets them know they can get help from police if they need it,” Mesa said.
“Seeing police in a friendly community environment takes away any scary or anything we might have perceived,” she added.