National Night Out focuses on community networking
Published 11:36 am Monday, October 7, 2024
Children line up and meet with law enforcement during National Night Out last week in Port Arthur. (Sierra Kondos/Special to The News)
Members of the Port Arthur Police department Criminal Justice Club during National Night Out last week in Port Arthur. (Sierra Kondos/Special to The News)
First responders pose for a photo during National Night Out last week in Port Arthur. (Sierra Kondos/Special to The News)
Volunteers provide free food at the event. (Sierra Kondos/Special to The News)
Port Arthur Police Chief Tim Duriso. (Sierra Kondos/Special to The News)
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A community-based event sponsored by local first responders celebrated 10 years this week with food, fun and festivities during National Night Out in Port Arthur.
National Night Out, held at the pavilion on Procter Street, aims to foster relationships between the community and law enforcement.
“National Night Out allows the community a chance to meet and greet with first responders, raise awareness for crime prevention and allow neighbors to mingle,” Wendy Billiot, Port Arthur Police officer, said. “Despite competing with school open houses, around 140 people attended, enjoying activities like face painting, an ice cream truck, and robots.”
Billiot said the event helps familiarize and facilitate a relationship between the community and the police officers, firefighters, and the first responders.
“Events like this are important because it makes us more approachable and more accessible,” she said. “On the kids’ side of it, I think it makes us less intimidating or scary, maybe because they see us in a different position. Rather than making a call for service or seeing the firemen at a wreck, you’re seeing us in an environment where we’ve got time to play with them or talk to them and give them goodies. I guess it may be what normalizes us as just another person. Rather than the bad guy or the mean looking cop because we got a serious look on our face at a call for service versus a more relaxed, personable atmosphere. They’ve got our full attention. So, I think it’s beneficial.”
This year’s event was hosted by Port Arthur Police Department, Port Arthur Fire Department, Constable Christopher Bates and Linda’s Lighthouse.
“I have been involved with National Night Out probably since about 2011,” Bates said. “Linda’s Lighthouse is a non-profit organization founded in 2016 and the mission and the goals of Linda’s Lighthouse is primarily our youth, and giving resources to our youth.”
Bates said the organization also supports health initiatives for everyone but really focuses on senior citizens to make sure that they have the necessary things they need to have a better quality of life.
“We focus on our young and on our senior citizens to make sure that our community, for the most part, has the resources to be successful in whatever they plan on doing,” he said. “And we also promote safety and awareness through things like National Night Out.”
Bates said it is important that the community does things together to encourage neighbors helping neighbors.
“I think that’s the first thing that we must recognize,” he said. “We’re all in this thing together. So, it’s going to be important that we do family-like activities together, and then we support each other outside of those activities in our neighborhoods. And so being able to help one another simple as if you know if someone is out of town or if you know your neighbor is at work at a certain time, just keep an eye out on their home.”
Bates said that mindfulness of just keeping an eye out enforces safety for the neighborhood.
“Those things are important, because not only are you watching the home and keeping your neighbor’s home safe while they’re not there, but you may also see some something that just might be out of the ordinary, something just doesn’t feel right in a car that’s circled a couple of times, or a person that’s walked back and forth, just from that initial view of just watching your neighbor’s home checking on it, you may come up on a situation call the police, and that may have stopped some type of burglary or death. And so, we just need neighbors and individuals in our community simply just helping one another.”
Billiot said noticing something as little as a neighbor’s routine gone awry may be necessary to call for a welfare check.
“If you are familiar with your neighbors and their habits, and you come home late and Miss Jones’s garage doors open, and you know that she closes it every night at dusk, and you come home late and it’s open, you may want to call the police and let the police check out possible suspicious activity,” she said. “Why is it open if it’s never open. She closes her door before it even gets dark. You know, it doesn’t hurt anything, and it very well may be that she forgot to close it, or she went to close it, and something triggered the sensor, and it went back up, and she didn’t even know it. I think there’s an advantage to at least being friendly with your neighbors, to where they’re concerned or they’re more likely to call the police or even go check on you.”
The ice cream truck owned by Laua and Abe was sponsored by the Port Arthur Police Blue Santa Program and the Police Officers Association and Jaimie Castille provided the face painting for the children.
Bates said businesses are welcome to have vender tables next year if they are providing door prizes.
For more information call 409-983-8335.
