Each year, thousands of communities across the country take part in National Night Out Against Crime, a neighborhood initiative designed to enhance the relationship between residents and law enforcement officials.
In preparation for this year’s event, Petal officials are holding a Night Out Against Crime Kickoff Meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 19 at Petal City Hall, 119 West Eighth Ave. in Petal. The meeting will allow interested parties to get information and give input about National Night Out activities, as well as sign up their neighborhoods for the event.
“(The meeting) is really organizational, to garner interest from the community in different neighborhoods,” Petal Fire Chief Joe Hendry said. “It’s going to be kind of like an encouragement to get the neighborhoods to work together within their own areas to have a neighborhood watch, or a program where they can look out for one another.
“To build community and awareness is basically what we’re looking at here, trying to encourage people to start up (in National Night Out.)”
The kickoff meeting will be attended by Mayor Hal Marx, members of the Petal Board of Aldermen and representatives from neighborhood communities.
This year’s National Night Out Against Crime will be held Aug. 2. While the exact details haven’t been set for Petal’s participation in the event, possible ideas may include block parties, cookouts, neighborhood visits from emergency personnel or safety demonstrations.
“I think it depends on the turnout and participation (at the kickoff meeting),” Marx said. “I think our goal is to get as many neighborhoods as we can to organize and sort of do their own possible block parties, or either they can decide on one central location for the city and have each neighborhood participate somehow.
“That’s what the meeting is about, is sort of to organize and get an idea about what might work best for us. So we’ll know more after we have that meeting on the 19th.”
The McInnis Street neighborhood in Petal has participated in National Night Out the past several years, holding picnics with police, fire and other city officials.
“It’s a lot more to it than just the Night Out Against Crime,” Hendry said. “It promotes the neighborhood watch program, and signage, and everybody being aware of their area and looking out for their neighbors.
“The sense of community and camaraderie is really the big plus to me, in that people get to know their neighbors. A lot of times we don’t know our neighbors, we don’t make much effort, because everybody’s so busy and we don’t have a lot of time to devote to that stuff. But this is a combined effort with the city, police, fire, public works – everyone will be involved.”
