Block party designed to fight crime

McMinnville will be joining the 24th annual National Night Out in 2007. The McMinnville Police Department will be holding a cost-free event Aug. 7. from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Farmers Market.

National Night Out, which is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, and co-sponsored by local agencies and organizations across the nation, is a crime and drug prevention event.

The theme across the nation is to ‘Give Neighborhood Crime and Drugs A Going Away Party’ while designed to:

‘ heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;

‘ generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime efforts;

‘ strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships;

‘ send a message to criminals letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Locally, the event will be used for all those reasons, as well as to launch a neighborhood watch program McMinnville Police Department will be making available to area residents next year. A neighborhood watch is a citizen organization devoted to crime and vandalism prevention in neighborhoods.

For the event, all city departments will be joining together with local businesses and schools to offer free games, prizes, music, food, face painting, entertainment and food. Emergency vehicles will be on display.

‘We would like to extend an invitation to any civic organization to participate if they like,’ said McMinnville Police Chief Charlie Sewell. ‘They can provide food, snacks, games or attendants to operate a game and we should be able to give them the prizes they need to give out.’

If the National Night Out and the neighborhood watch program are successful, they will branch out to include annual parties in individual neighborhoods.

‘We are hoping in the next few years instead of having one big party, we will have neighborhood block parties,’ said Sgt. Lisa Norris. ‘We will still have a big event but the neighborhoods who want to participate could have their street blocked off for their party. This is about getting neighborhood involvement and crime prevention.’

National Night Out is a continuation of the direction the police department is going in order to bring citizens and law enforcement together so they can understand what the issues are and work toward solving problems that relate to crime and total quality of life for all citizens.

McMinnville is among 28 registered areas in Tennessee participating in the event. Other Midstate cities participating are Cookeville, Murfreesboro, Smithville and Tullahoma.

For more information, contact Capt. Mike Lane at 473-3808.