Preventing Crime with Neighborhood Parties

There is girls' night out, parents' night out....and now there's National Night Out 2007.

It's a nationwide block party in which organizers want you to get out on your front porch, share cookies and lemonade and get to know your neighbors.

Last year, more than 34 million people participated in this event, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

The purpose: to strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community ties and let criminals know that neighborhoods are banding together against crime.

Here at METRO, our police department is also getting involved. Tomorrow, drop by our headquarters at 1900 Main St. and you'll see our MPD robot in action, a recruiting booth looking for the best and brightest to join our force and you'll get to meet one of our K-9 cops - a police dog who can understand commands in three languages. Above is a photo of Officers Jimmy Meeks and Russ Hawkins with the robot at last year's National Night Out activity in our lobby.

"It's getting people closer to the police and not so much afraid of them," said Officer Harold Hewlett, who is in charge of the event at METRO. "It lowers that veil between law enforcement and the citizens that law enforcement serves. It humanizes the officer."

In addition to the robot and K-9 cop, there will be an MPD police car and motorcycle on St. Joseph Parkway. You'll be able to examine these up close, along with the bomb truck, which houses the robot and heavy bomb-protective gear officers wear.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., MPD will distribute crime prevention literature and free helium balloons for kids - all from the back of a Motor Assistance Program (MAP) truck. This will be at three transit centers: Southwest, Kashmere and Texas Medical Center.

If you need party ideas to make your neighborhood party rock, organizers suggest everything from face painting to water balloons. Here's the Night Out Knight, the mascot for the event, whose costume you can buy on-line.

And of course, a little competition always makes it more fun. National Night Out conducts a contest to see which community has the most participants. Last year in communities of 300,000 plus, Houston ranked No. 2, eclipsed by San Antonio. Texas had seven cities on the Top 18 list.

Click here to make your block a part of this national event.