San Fernando Valley residents will get a chance to meet police officers from their local stations tonight as part of the 27th annual National Night Out.
Free food and entertainment will be available at the event, which aims to spur participation in local anti-crime programs and strengthen neighborhood morale and police-community partnerships.
Focusing on crime and drug prevention, National Night Out is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.
"The issue of community policing for the community and police and all the stakeholders is something we should be addressing every day," said Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau. "But this brings an exclamation mark to what we do every day."
Getting neighbors to be alert to crime and phone in incidents to police has helped nonviolent crime in Los Angeles decrease from 188,000 cases in 2001 to 116,000 in 2009, Albanese said.
"That doesn't happen by accident," he said. "We're on pace now to lower that even more for 2010. That happens because police, community and the city government - everybody - kind of working together does the kind of things we need to do to keep it down."
In Glendale, National Night Out events "grew immensely" this year, said Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department. At least 25 are scheduled throughout the city, ranging from neighborhood get-togethers to marches ending in a jazz festival.
One gathering at Pacific Park is expected to draw at least 300 people, Lorenz said.
"People realized that if they want to protect their neighborhoods... that as long as they stuck together and reported suspicious activities, that we were able to catch a lot of thieves this year," Lorenz said.
"It's all about working together," Lorenz said. "We can't do this alone. There's no way in a city of this size with budget constraints that we're going to be able to continue to provide a lot of services that we've once come to expect."
Here's a list of events planned by local police stations:
Warner Ranch Park, 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills, 5 - 8 p.m.
Birmingham High School, Victory Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard, Lake Balboa, 5 - 9 p.m.
Burbank Bike Way, Chandler Blvd at Keystone, 5:30 - 8 p.m.
Sylmar Park, 13109 Borden Ave., 6 - 8 p.m.
Northridge Park, 18300 Lemarsh St., Northridge, 6 - 10 p.m.
Pacific Park, South Kenilworth Avenue and Riverdale Drive, Glendale. There will be at least 25 events in the Glendale area and most are between 6 - 7 p.m. For a full listing, visit www.glendalenno.com or call 818-548-4015.
For more information about National Night Out, visit www.nno.org or call 800-NITE-OUT.
