Organizers are calling Tuesday’s 26th annual National Night Out in Kent a major success.
A total of 90 neighborhoods throughout the city took part with potlucks, barbecues and dessert socials. There were 29 visiting teams, with a total of 81 volunteers. These teams consisted of Mayor Suzette Cooke, City Council members, State Rep. Tina Orwall, police officers, fire fighters, and numerous other city employees. There were also several employees of Target, the sponsor company of the event.
The visiting teams met outside Kent city hall, and in a combined effort visited the National Night Out events throughout the city. Terri Morford of the Kent Police Community Education Unit, who coordinated the event noted, “What makes this exciting is that there were 10 first-time events that participated in National Night Out this year, six of which were apartment complexes.”
There were also special guest appearances by P.D. Panda and the crime-fighting dog McGruff.
Cesi Velez of the Kent Police Community Education Unit noted, “it was great to see the looks on all the children’s faces when PD would walk up handing out Jr. Officer badge stickers.”
Last year, Kent took third place in the National Night Out awards for cities in population of 50,000-100,000, and the city is submitting its application for the award competition again this year.
National Night Out is a time for neighbors to get to know one another and join forces to help prevent crime.
“Neighborhood involvement is critical to our strategy for reducing crime,” Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan said.
“Neighbors keeping an eye out for each other is very important.”
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