Crime & Safety
National Night Out Promotes Community, Safety
College Park communities are going all out to to encourage safety in the city.
On Tuesday evening, College Park residents will take part in National Night Out, joining an estimated 37 million participants from 15,000 communities nationwide.
From an ice cream social and neighborhood walk in Berwyn to a march on the bike trail from Lakeland to Berwyn with the Tropical Breeze Steel Orchestra, communities throughout College Park have planned their own activities to mark the event, which is aimed at preventing crime and increasing neighborhood awareness. Residents will also be able to learn about forming jogging teams, Tai Chi groups and other partnerships aimed at promoting safety within the community.
Residents are encouraged to turn their porch lights on starting at dusk to signify participation in the event.
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Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), National Night Out started in 1984 to help raise awareness about crime and drug prevention. Since then, it has encouraged individuals and communities to come together with law enforcement officials and community leaders to come up with solutions for how to keep communities safe.
National Night Out is an "opportunity for communities to promote police-community partnerships, crime prevention, and neighborhood camaraderie," said NATW Executive Director Matt A. Peskin.
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In addition to meeting with local law enforcement, College Park residents can talk to neighborhood watch group leaders who will be on hand on Tuesday night to talk about how to identify and report suspicious activity. Above all, they want to encourage residents to be alert and aware of their surroundings at all times.
Residents need to look for obvious suspicious activities - including strangers entering neighboring houses, acts of vandalism, unusual noises such as broken glass and individuals entering businesses after hours – as well as not-so-obvious things – such as people going door-to-door in the neighborhood, vehicles moving slowly through a neighborhood and parked and occupied vehicles – to keep their neighborhoods safe, Peskin said.
For more specific information on the events going on in each community, click on the neighborhood name here: Berwyn, College Park Woods, Cherry Hill, Lakeland and North College Park.
The following is a list of civic associations and their leaders from individual communities within the city of College Park:
Berwyn District Civic Association
Kevin Young, President
301-474-3577
Calvert Hills Citizens Association
Morgan Gale, President
240-481-7010
College Park Estates Civic Association
Robert Day, President
301-982-7894
Lakeland Civic Association
Monroe Dennis, President
301-474-6270
North College Park Citizens Association
Mark Shroder, NCPCA President
301-220-1450
Old Town Civic Association
Chris Aubry, President
West College Park Citizens Association
Suchitra Balachandran, Presidentcp_woods@yahoo.com