Spotlight on Criminal Justice: National Night Out – August
Last year, polling data revealed that Americans’ confidence in police had fallen to the lowest level on record. While those numbers have rebounded somewhat, they are still well below the all-time highs recorded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. National Night Out intends to help restore America’s confidence in police. Each year, on the first Tuesday of August, law enforcement agencies and community members come together to foster collaboration and present a united front in the fight against crime.
Origins of National Night Out
Founded in 1984 by Matt Peskin, a volunteer for Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion Community Watch program and founder of the National Association of Town Watch, the campaign’s concept was simple: encourage residents to turn on their porch lights, go outside, and spend time with their neighbors and local police. With support from a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant, the first National Night Out involved 2.5 million people across 400 communities in 23 states. Some of the first cities to participate were Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, and Philadelphia. Although some police chiefs were reluctant to get involved at first, not knowing how it would be received, the event was an instant success.
National Night Out Today
National Night Out eventually moved off the porch and into the streets, growing into a network of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, civic groups, state and regional crime prevention associations, and volunteers across the nation. The event offers an opportunity for families and law enforcement officers to come together, interact, and discuss how everyone can contribute toward making their city a more cohesive, resilient place to live. Today, it involves 38 million people across 17,000 communities across the United States, U.S. territories, Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide.
Communities celebrate National Night Out in creative ways that reflect their diversity and unique character. Columbus, Ohio, hosts one of the biggest National Night Out events in the country, featuring live music, prize drawings, and kids’ activities. Residents of Austin, Texas, celebrate with barbecue and games. Other cities celebrate with block parties, parades, safety demonstrations, sporting events, and more to cultivate community camaraderie, enhance relationships with local law enforcement, and promote crime prevention programs. This year, New York City residents will enjoy more than 70 festivity-filled locations across the five boroughs, and Chesterfield County, Virginia, will celebrate National Night Out with nearly 100 block parties.
Building Positive Police-Community Relationships
One of the campaign’s primary goals is to build a true sense of community by strengthening relationships between residents, their neighbors, and law enforcement. Relationship-based policing, defined as “establishing and maintaining individual relationships with community members and collateral professionals with the purposeful goal of collaborative problem-solving and management of complex community issues,” is one of the simplest, most effective crime prevention tools. Positive police-community relationships and trust are crucial to successful crime reduction strategies. A working partnership between law enforcement and citizens promotes social cohesion (the way residents think and feel about their neighborhoods) and reinforces collective efficacy (what residents are willing to do to improve their neighborhoods). These two factors are extremely important to community-based crime prevention strategies and have led to lower levels of juvenile delinquency, neighborhood disorder, crime, and violence.
Conclusion
For many neighborhoods, National Night Out is not just one night of the year—it is the annual culmination of ongoing efforts to prevent crime all year long. An occasion to celebrate past successes, discuss current challenges, and re-dedicate to collaboration between neighbors, police, and businesses to make communities more livable. In 2023, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland attended a 40-year commemorative National Night Out celebration in Philadelphia, stating, “Everyone in our country deserves to be safe in their communities. National Night Out is an important opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the close partnership between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”