National Night Out Brings Together Community, Police

By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com

Children were ecstatic at Tuesday night’s 35th annual National Night Out event in Manor Field Park, where they enjoyed the sweet taste of cotton candy, munched on some popcorn, took a ride down the inflatable slide and reveled in the thrill of the bounce house.

Parents and teenagers also joined the fun, enjoying food, entertainment, prizes and giveaways.

National Night Out, hosted by police departments across the nation each year, promotes camaraderie between police officers and community members to ensure safe, crime-free and drug-free neighborhoods. Huntington has taken part in the national event since 2002.

Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone said the significance of the annual celebration is to deter crime by bringing the community and law enforcement together.

“There’s people and there’s police officers that care,” Petrone said. “When we’re all working together we can take care of the crime situation. Part of the purpose here is to have children form a relationship with government and law enforcement at a very early age because they’re here to help.”

Huntington Councilwoman Tracey Edwards said the annual event is especially important in the midst of the national opioid epidemic.

“If there’s anything that we can do to bring the community closer to not only the police, but the services that are here, then maybe someone will reach out and get help,” Edwards said. “If one person is able to get help that they never would’ve gotten if we didn’t have this event, I’m happy.”

The town co-hosted the event with the Suffolk County Police Department, Huntington Station Business Improvement District, Huntington Station Enrichment Center, Target and 7-Eleven.

Several nonprofit organizations also attended the event, including Huntington-based Bikes for Kids in America, which raffled off bicycles.

Suffolk County Police Chief Stuart Cameron introduced the law enforcement agencies that attended the event, including members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Suffolk County Marine Bureau, Suffolk County police auxiliary, and Suffolk County Second Precinct police explorers.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini, who attended National Night Out events in Brentwood, Huntington Station and Wyandanch, said all three events were well-attended and fun.

“This is a great opportunity to get people together from law enforcement and from the community to have a good time, talk and to meet new people,” Sini said. “The objective is to build relationships with our young people, to make sure that we have relationships built upon trust and also perhaps get them interested in joining law enforcement.”