A young boy wins prizes at Signal Hill’s National Night Out celebration last year.
Long Beach and Signal Hill take different approaches to the evening, with the former choosing to have residents host small gatherings in their neighborhoods while the latter celebrates in a centralized location, which this year will be Signal Hill Park, 2175 Cherry Ave., from 5pm to 8pm.
Sgt. Kelli Brown of the Signal Hill Police Department (SHPD) said that city is unique in its choice to host one large event because both Lakewood and Long Beach do not.
“Activities [will] include balloon artists, caricatures, snow cones, train rides, [a] bounce house, tricycle races against officers, face painting, crafts and a raffle,” Brown said. “In total, we will have 20 vendors that include businesses and organizations in and around Signal Hill.”
NNO is important because it provides an opportunity for neighbors and police officers to meet each other, Brown said.
“Our department emphasizes community policing and building partnerships,” she said. “This is a fun event in which the community can meet their police department under positive circumstances. It is also a great opportunity for neighbors to meet one another and build community in their area.”
Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) Community Engagement Division Administrator Karen Owens explained that meeting neighbors through NNO events not only benefits the community as a whole, but it also helps reduce crime.
“It’s always good for people to get to know their neighbors and recognize who belongs and who doesn’t in their neighborhood and be able to recognize any suspicious activity,” Owens said.
In Long Beach, NNO will be celebrated through block parties, barbecues and ice-cream socials in local neighborhoods and parks.
“We choose not to do a centralized event anymore, which is what we used to do,” Owens said. “We realized that, really, the whole purpose of this event is for people to stay in their neighborhoods, turn their lights on, get to know their neighbors and gather in their neighborhood.”
However, the local police are still plenty involved, she explained.
Kids play in a bouncy house at Signal Hill’s National Night Out event last year.
The LBPD is keeping track of all the neighborhood parties and will stop by at each one, take photographs and socialize, she said. Additionally, officers will be passing out Slurpee coupons as part of 7-Eleven’s Operation Chill, which, according to 7-Eleven’s website, is “a community outreach program designed to reduce crime and enhance relations between police and youth.”
NNO began in 1984 through the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), which Matt Peskin— the creator of NNO— formed in 1981 to unify hundreds of town-watch organizations across the country, according to the NATW website.
Thirty-four years ago Long Beach joined the over 16,000 communities that celebrate NNO every year, and according to a statement from the LBPD, use the holiday to “heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for and participation in local anticrime efforts, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police/community partnerships [and] convey a message that neighbors are organized and involved.”
Signal Hill began participating in the police-resident collaboration in 2003.
Both departments are encouraging citizens to leave their homes and partake in the nighttime festivities.
The LBPD is asking residents to involve themselves in NNO in order to build neighborhood unity and strengthen police community partnerships, according to an LBPD statement.
“We strongly encourage residents to participate in this national event and plan one themselves,” the statement reads. “If you don’t have one, you can still participate by leaving the porch light on and getting out in your community.”
