Fox Valley, Tri-Cities differ in National Night Out celebrations
To celebrate National Night Out, the Lake in the Hills Police Department hosts a three-day celebration.
They should consider themselves lucky — not every town can afford to celebrate for even one day.
Many villages and cities will celebrate National Night Out in the Fox Valley and Tri-Cities area this Tuesday, Aug. 2, yet others will have to sit and watch as budget cuts strain them of valuable crime prevention programs.
National Night Out is a national program sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. Now entering its 28th year, the program is designed to raise crime and drug prevention awareness, generate interest in anti-crime programs, improve police-community partnerships, and promote a strong neighborhood organization. According to its website, more than 37 million people participated in National Night Out programs in more than 15,000 communities in 2010.
Lake in the Hills is one of many villages in the state to host these annual festivities, always held on the first Tuesday in August of each year. Pete Albanese, officer with the Lake in the Hills Police Department, said the festivities in the village expanded many years ago.
The three-day celebration now features a community cookout, block parties and a car show. There will also be police vehicle demonstrations and a helicopter landing demonstration from the Flight for Life transport service. If food consumption is any indication, Albanese estimates attendance at last year’s events were good.
“We went through 800 hot dogs last year,” Albanese said. “If we average one or two hot dogs per person, then I would say we had a good 500 or so last time.”
Other towns will also be hosting events. Campton Hills will be having about 25 vendors in its celebrations, said Police Chief Dan Hoffman. Police and fire department demonstrations and child ID programs will be some of the main attractions, but Hoffman said the meet and greet of National Night Out events are the most rewarding.
“It’s a great way to meet the community leaders and partners that they may not see,” Hoffman said.
North Aurora police are looking to increase awareness of a new community program through Tuesday’s events. The Police and Citizens Together (PACT) program assigns officers to different neighborhoods and get to know the neighbors better in hopes of reducing crime. A news release stated officers will be on hand Tuesday to answer any questions regarding the program.
The same can’t be said about Batavia, though. The home to Fermilab has not held a National Night Out event since 2008, when budget concerns led to difficult program cuts.
“We were re-evaluating all our services to see if they were core services we must do, any we had to do,” said Batavia Police Chief Gary Schira. “We had to make some tough choices and unfortunately it had to be cut out.”
Schira added that layoffs within the police department and a lack of manpower to cover certain crime prevention programs has led to further program eliminations, such as the DARE programs at the local schools. He said he doesn’t see these programs returning until the economy recovers completely.
“It doesn’t look like the future bodes any better,” Schira said.
St. Charles and Carpentersville are among others which join Batavia as places without National Night Out.
National Night Out is a valuable resource that, Albanese said, helps the community learn more about ways to stop crime and see another side of the police who patrol the streets of their hometowns.
“It’s a different look at the police department, as opposed to what you may see at a traffic stop,” Albanese said. “The people will come up to the officers and ask questions to gain some more on how the police functions and how safe they should feel.”