National Night Out Tuesday in Red Oak
A police and community relationship-building event is coming to Fountain Square Park in Red Oak.
The Red Oak Police Department is participating in the National Night Out Campaign. The National Association of Town Watch organization has designated Tuesday, Aug. 2, for its annual event, which is always the first Tuesday in August.
The event is organized to foster police and community partnerships. Red Oak is expanding the event locally to foster relations with all law enforcement, fire, EMS, first responders, emergency management, and Crime Stoppers personnel with members of the community.
“This is a community-building campaign to strengthen the ties and camaraderie in neighborhoods to make communities a safer and better place to live,” the police department said in a press release. “The event was started in 1984 and had participants from 23 states, 400 communities representing 2.5 million neighbors. This year’s event is represented in all 50 states, the U.S. territories, military bases, and Canadian cities; with more than 16,000 communities and 38 million neighbors represented.”
The release continued, “If you are approached about the event, please tell your friends and neighbors to lock their doors, turn on porch and yard lights, and join us at Fountain Square Park. It is the hope that we have a good turnout for our event, and stronger relationships are formed moving forward.”
Agencies and individuals participating include: Red Oak Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County K-9 Units, Red Oak Fire and Rescue, Montgomery County Emergency Management, and Montgomery County Crime Stoppers. Other invited agencies include: Iowa State Patrol; Iowa DNR game warden; Iowa DNR park ranger; Montgomery County Conservation officer; Life Net helicopter; Civil Air Patrol; the fire, rescue, and first responders from Stanton, Villisca, Grant and Elliott; Montgomery County Attorney Bruce Swanson, City of Red Oak Attorney Tom Stamets; BNSF Police; 4th Judicial Adult PPO officers; and juvenile court officers.
The city of Red Oak and Montgomery County formally proclaimed Aug. 2 as National Night Out in Red Oak.
The aim is to make the event a true old-fashioned block party, “for families and friends to come and spend a little time and realize how great Red Oak and Montgomery County is, and how much better it can become when we work together,” the release said.