Salisbury’s National Night Out encourages community relationships
SALISBURY, Md. – Well, it’s National Night Out, and thousands of communities across all fifty states join in on this yearly campaign that promotes police and community partnerships.
The Salisbury Police Department held its annual National Night Out in Salisbury’s City Park, with a huge turnout. While many are here to fellowship in the festivities, some say they came to foster friendships with the first responders.
Cops, community, and camaraderie- not everyone feels safe with local law enforcement according to Monica Brooks with the Wicomico County NAACP. “All of our communities should be safe spaces. All of them should be able to walk up and down the street any time of night and be okay… We continue to get calls from all levels of law Enforcement, whether it’s Maryland State Police, Sheriffs, or Salisbury Police Department about complaints from citizens. So, the important thing is for all of us to listen to the community and hear what’s actually happening.”
Salisbury Police Officer Sgt. Thomas Hitty has been with the department for 19 years and says they have these events to bring the community closer together. “It’s important to bring these community partners together, what it does, is it allows everyone to see that we’re together as one as opposed to individuals’ opportunities. So, it’s very important that we hold this night.”
He says this is a great way to rally behind residents and they love this event, but this isn’t the only time they connect. “This isn’t just an isolated opportunity for the police department to come out and work with the community… We just finished up with a flag football program that we launched this year, we do a lot of work with the Maryland Special Olympics that goes throughout the year, we have our community relations with the Jewish Street Community Center.”
Brooks says they have created their own events to continue to grow partnerships with the police. “So, the idea is to not have one event a year, because that does nothing right, but to encourage continuous connection with the community.” She says National Night Out is an opportunity to address the fears some people have with the police. “We need to know what is really going on and it is not right for anybody to have fear against law enforcement for what they may do… The fact is, there’s a lot of work to be done, this was not built in a day, and the community, it’s going to take a while for them to build trust.”
National Night Out began in the 1970’s, and officers say they will continue this campaign in Salisbury for years to come as long as it is needed. While the NAACP has shared some of their concerns, they still wanted to note how important it is they attend event that law enforcements hosts, and vice versa to truly build friendships and not fear.
