National Night Out Set To Make South Bay Safer, Friendlier

GILROY, CA — Neighborhoods throughout Silicon Valley are expected to participate in National Night Out, a campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood safety.

Last year, the Palo Alto Police Department reintroduced National Night Out after a decades-long absence, with the goal of making it an annual tradition.

This year, National Night Out falls on Aug. 6, and Palo Alto Police plans to participate again among other law enforcement agencies.

The Peninsula city will be joined by neighboring Los Altos, Milpitas, Cupertino, Santa Clara and Gilroy. To register for the former, one may register by visiting losaltosca.gov/nno. For the East Bay city, a participant may sign up by contacting Officer Kita Inthasack at 408-586-2526 or by emailing him at kinthasack@ci.milpitas.ca.gov. In Cupertino, one may register by visiting www.cupertino.org/nno. In Santa Clara, interested parties are advised to pull up www.scpd.org. Gilroy residents are invited to call 408-465-6549 to get involved.

For the night, residents are asked to lock their doors, turn on their front porch lights and spend the evening outside with neighbors and law enforcement. Some may host a block party, a cookout at a park or some other community gathering.

The Palo Alto police force will make stops at those neighborhood events throughout the evening to help foster relationship building. The police department plans to host their own National Night Out gathering near the police station with officers outside to greet the community and socialize.

As a way for the citizenry to take ownership of their communities against crime, National Night Out helps spread awareness about crime prevention programs and the impact that citizens of Palo Alto in particular can have on reducing crime, drugs and violence in the city. Local neighborhoods and homeowner’s associations play a critical role in assisting the police department in these efforts and are found to help make neighborhoods safer.

Many South Bay police departments have reacted with encouragement to those alert citizens who have reports wrongdoing or suspicious behavior.

Those who would like to host an event that would bring out police officers are asked to make their request by July 7 and send to janine.delavega@cityofpaloalto.org. More information may be obtained on the National Night Out website shown here.

In San Jose, those who would like to apply for a permit fee exemption may do so with applications that must be submitted by July 16 to be reviewed. For events to be held at a city park, participants are asked to contact: the City of San Jose, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, Special Park Use Unit division at 408-794-6500, SPUapplications@sanjoseca.gov or by visiting www.sanjoseca.gov.