Sara Severens ~ Staff Writer
On Monday, Sept. 19, Lynchburg Police Department (LPD) will be celebrating their annual Lynchburg Night Out Against Crime, which is aimed at bringing awareness to Neighborhood Watch programs in the area. Watch groups in Lynchburg will be hosting individual events throughout the city.
On the day of the event, neighborhoods will hold block parties where city authorities will visit the events to talk with residents, according to an article in The News & Advance. If your neighborhood is not hosting an event, LPD asks that residents turn on their porch lights on the night of the event to show their commitment to keeping neighborhoods safe.
Lynchburg used to participate in the National Night Out, which started about 30 years ago, and is an “annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community
partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, better places to live,” according to the National Night Out website. The National Night Out takes place on the first Tuesday in Aug. every year.
“We now do our own event in mid-Sept. to avoid the hot temperatures in Aug. This year, it is Sept. 19, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Various Neighborhood Watch groups will host events, from cookouts to ice cream socials, and city officials and police department staff will stop in to greet everyone and listen to their concerns. Other groups will turn their porch lights on as a visual reminder to unite in the effort to keep their community safe by reporting suspicious activity to the police.The Night Out event helps people get to know one another from their neighborhood, meet city officials and law enforcement officers and is a great opportunity for everyone to come together for a fun event,” said Cindy L. Kozerow from the LPD.
Lynchburg College can support Lynchburg Night Out Against Crime by turning on porch lights at their homes on Sept. 19 and by actively working with LPD and Campus Security to keep our home safe.
In order to find out if your community has a watch group or if you are interested in starting one, please call (434) 455-6070.
