National Night Out

The Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) joined residents and community leaders from across the District of Columbia to celebrate National Night Out, an annual campaign that takes place in cities across the nation on the first Tuesday of August. The campaign promotes relationship building between local law enforcement and the communities they serve, while highlighting crime prevention, safety awareness and community action.

Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, National Night Out was launched in 1984 with the support of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, civic groups, state and regional crime prevention associations and volunteers from across the nation. The campaign encourages police and community partnerships, while providing communities with a fun setting to engage police officers and other law enforcement representatives.

National Night Out has become more than a campaign encouraging police and community relationship building. It has become a celebration with neighborhoods from across the nation hosting block parties, cookouts and other community events that open the door for community members to meet and ask questions of the police officers patrolling their neighborhoods while fostering positive interactions between law enforcement and community members.