About.

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live. National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.

Millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out across thousands of communities from all fifty states, U.S. territories and military bases worldwide on the first Tuesday in August (Texas and select areas celebrate on the first Tuesday in October). Neighborhoods host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and much, much more.

About Video

1970

Meet Matt. The period before National Night Out.

It begins in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Matt spent several years volunteering for the Lower Merion Community Watch program, who works in cooperation with the Lower Merion Police Department. During his tenure of volunteer work in the township, he often patrolled his neighborhood, assisted in patrol dispatch and shortly thereafter introduced the program’s newsletter becoming a representation of the success that took place within the organization and the volunteer work put forth by over one thousand neighbors.

Opportunity to gather new valuable content for the newsletter became more difficult as each month passed. Matt started to reach out to surrounding communities for assistance. This was the aha moment. Matt noticed hundreds of these local groups existed with no shared platform to connect.

1981

Matt established the National Association of Town Watch.

National Association of Town Watch was founded only a few years later to provide community watch groups the necessary information, resources and assets to stay informed, interested, involved, and motivated within the community. Neighbors and local law enforcement across the nation supported the association as it steadily grew for the next three years.

1984

NATW introduced the National Night Out campaign.

Matt knew something more was needed. National Night Out was introduced in August of 1984 through an already established network of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, civic groups, state and regional crime prevention associations and volunteers across the nation. The first annual National Night Out involved 2.5 million neighbors across 400 communities in 23 states.

National Night Out grew to become a celebration beyond just front porch vigils and symbolic efforts amongst neighbors to send a message of neighborhood camaraderie. Neighborhoods across the nation began to host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and more.

The best way to build a safer community is to know your neighbors and your surroundings. National Night Out triumphs over a culture that isolates us from each other and allows us to rediscover our own communities.

 

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Senator

National Night Out is an excellent program that helps the department build relationships with neighbors and create safer neighborhoods. This is one of the events we look forward to each year.

 

Police Chief George Turner

Atlanta Police Department

Parents and their children have the opportunity to see squad cars, various emergency response vehicles, a medical helicopter, learn about a wide variety of safety topics and partake in numerous interactive family friendly activities.

 

Police Chief Eric Werner

Maple Grove Police Department

It’s a chance to bring neighborhoods together with the men and women who protect them. The safety of our communities depend on both law enforcement and the neighbors they serve. National Night Out enhances that cooperation.

 

Joe Biden

Vice President

Positive interactions with our residents are invaluable and hold the key to building lasting community relationships. National Night Out stands as a time to reflect on our deep community ties and the obligations we have to each other.

 

Chief of Police Peter Newsham

Metropolitan Police Department

My hope for starting this campaign was to reach the community and let them see the officers of our department in a positive light. This event brings police officers and the members of the community together in a fun setting and gives them the opportunity to get to know the officers and ask questions.

 

Lieutenant Matt Oglesbee

Bluffton Police Department

Thank you to our neighbors and law enforcement partners across the nation.

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