National Night Out
By Ralph Froehlich

The 27th Annual National Night Out, a unique police-community partnership aimed at preventing crime and drug use, will take place across the country on Tuesday, August 3. This is a perfect time for all residents, members of law enforcement and community organizations to come together against crime and drugs.

National Night Out, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, is designed to strengthen local anticrime programs, neighborhood spirit and police-community relationships while sending a message to criminals that our neighborhoods are organized and not easy targets.

Along with the traditional display of outdoor lights and front porch vigils, communities nationwide will celebrate National Night Out with a variety of events and activities such as cookouts and local police and sheriff’s department exhibits. Union County will be offering up an entertaining and educational mix of activities to mark the date.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders will be hosting a National Night Out event at from 6-8 p.m. in Meisel Park off of Meisel Avenue in Springfield.

It will be a fun evening for the kids with complimentary hot dogs, free inflatable rides, games and other activities. There will be emergency vehicles and equipment from the Union County Police Department and other law enforcement agencies on display. Police dogs from the Union County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Search and Rescue Unit will also be on hand.

It is also a perfect opportunity for parents to take advantage of the Fingerprint on File program, an important service offered by the Union County Sheriff’s Office. The purpose of the program is to establish a fingerprint record of a child that can be used by law enforcement agencies in the event a child becomes lost or abducted. Fingerprint cards are returned to the parents for safekeeping.

Officers from the Sheriff's Identification Bureau will be set up to fingerprint your child at the park during the evening. Please take advantage of this very important program.

National Night Out has proven to be an effective, inexpensive and enjoyable program to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships in our fight for a safer nation. More than 36 million people from communities in all 50 states were involved in National Night Out 2009.

The benefits to our community from National Night Out will most certainly extend well beyond the one night. Please come out and help us make National Night Out 2010 a strong, united voice against crime.

Ralph Froehlich is the Union County Sheriff.