Lawrence Township Celebrates National Night Out

National Night Out - proclaimed to be "American's Night Out Against Crime" - is a national program formed in 1984 that seeks to encourage positive relationships between the community and the police department.

Lawrence Township has been an active participant in the program over the past 15 years.

This year’s event – held Tuesday evening (Aug. 2) – included representatives from:

• Lawrence Township Police Department
• Lawrence Township Drug & Alcohol Alliance
• Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office
• Mercer County Sheriff’s Office
• Lawrence Road Volunteer Fire Company
• Lawrence Township Emergency Medical Service
• Womanspace
• Lawrence Township Health Department
• Princeton Healthcare
• League of Women Voters

While the event was held at Heritage Park adjacent to the Eggerts Crossing Village apartment complex off Johnson Avenue, residents from throughout Lawrence Township were invited.

Police officers served hot dogs and hamburgers to the community.  While flipping burgers and spinning hot dogs, Detective William Chester fist-pumped everyone he knew as they passed by him.

And that meant he was pretty busy - Chester grew up in the neighborhood, where he said “everybody knows everybody.”

Volunteer firefighters from Lawrence Road Fire Co. both educated and entertained children and their parents. The children loved putting on the firefighters’ protective gear, while their parents happily snapped pictures. They also had a lot of fun climbing in the fire engine the firefighters brought with them.

Led by Capt. Mike Byrd, the firefighters spoke about fire safety and the many important features of their “turnout gear”.

After Gracie Reyes, 7, from Browns Mills had a chance to recover from wearing a firefighter’s heavy protective coat, she said, "It was really cool. It was really heavy. It was really hot inside."

Fred Vereen, long-time resident of Eggerts Crossing Village, was pleased by the cooler temperatures and great turn out. “They have really worked at this. It has really been a big thing. The Sheriff’s Department has always been active with it,” he said.

Teenagers Mallk Reubels and Terrin Anderson had fun but would like next year’s event to include more events for teens and older kids, like a water balloon toss contest and a basketball tournament.

 “It is really nice,” said Quiana Johnson, who brought her three children to the event.  “It is good for the kids to see everyone who is here to protect them. They are encouraged. Maybe they will become firefighters and police someday.”

During National Night Out first year in 1984, 400 communities in 23 states participated. Last year’s event, meanwhile, involved over 37 million people in 15,110 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, several Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide. It was estimated that this year’s National Night Out involved over 15,500 communities.