On Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Bonita Canyon Sports Park, the Newport Beach Police Department celebrated National Night Out, an annual community-building campaign held in thousands of cities across the country that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.
At the event, NBPD had displays from the CSI department, the SWAT team (including a SWAT vehicle), a K-9 team, Animal Control, Mounted Unit police officers and their horses, motorcycle officers and their bikes, and officers from the department’s new drone program.
There was also information on crime and drug prevention, home security, child safety, the Citizens’ Police Academy, and Volunteers In Policing.
Officer Nate Ferris of the city’s mounted patrol had his horse, Stetson, with him, while Officer Isaac Furnari was aboard Clyde. At the Crime Scene Investigation booth, crime scene investigator Andrew Quickle demonstrated how to examine fingerprints. Motorcycle officer Shay Brackett let many of the children in attendance sit on his motorcycle so they could get a taste of what it’s like to ride one of those big bikes.
K-9 Officer Eric Rosenberg had his service dog, Ryder, with him. Ryder is an eight-year-old Belgian Malinois. According to Officer Rosenberg, Ryder will be with the NBPD several more years until he retires, depending on “his health, his willingness and wanting to work, his endurance, things may happen to me that may cause him to have to retire. There’s a multitude of issues or things that can come up that can cause him to retire. Right now, there’s no sign of him slowing down anytime soon, which is good for us. I love it.”
For the first time at National Night Out, the NBPD showed off its new drone program. Detective Nick Carr and Officer Mark Hamilton are drone pilots who said that by October, the NBPD anticipates having 10 drones situated throughout the city. The drones can fly remotely from their laptops in their patrol cars, and they have a flight deck at the police headquarters. The drones help the police department respond to calls for service more quickly.
According to the National Night Out website, National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.
National Night Out strengthens the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while restoring a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.
Millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out in thousands of communities across all 50 states, U.S. territories, and military bases worldwide on the first Tuesday in August (days and times can vary by state and city).
Neighborhoods host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts, and other community events, including safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, and exhibits.
For more information, visit https://natw.org.
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