National Night Out Not Held This Year in Bernardsville, Bedminster

With tighter budget restraints in place, National Night Out, a nationwide event that calls for local police departments to get to better know their communities and also urges residents to take a stand against crime, wouldn't be held on Tuesday in the Somerset Hills communities of Bernardsville, Bedminster and nearby Bernards Township. 

The event — scheduled the same night in early August throughout the United States — had been held last August at the Bernardsville pool complex in the borough. But, this year, Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine said, "We were never scheduled to do it."

Valentine added, "We typically do not do it every year as it is a big undertaking that requires considerable staffing resources and funding."

It's been longer since Bedminster participated, but police Chief Pat Ussery said on Tuesday that he recalls that National Night Out had been replaced with a recreation program that sent several officers on a trip with local kids to Dorney Park amusement park in Pennsylvania.

But Ussery added that the initiative died in the face of the Bedminster Township police department's reduction in size from 17 to 15 officers, along with "severe budget cuts." 

In Basking Ridge, it was discontinued in 2008 as a result of municipal budget tightening, and was revived the last few years through the efforts of the Bernards Township PBA and the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Bernards Township's National Night Out had been held last August at Ridge High School, and the previous year at Dewy Meadow Shopping Center off King George Road.

In response to an emailed question, Bernards Township Police Chief Brian Bobowicz said the decision not to participate in this year's National Night Out event was made in conjunction with the PBA leadership based primarily in fiscal responsibility guided by the municipality's record of the same.

"Over the past decade we have explored and tried differing options related to financial sponsorship and partnering of which we are greatly appreciative," Bobowicz said. 

"As budgeting constraints and personnel resources have shrunk while being faced with increased demands upon the police department and other township departments, a decision was made to direct our community-based celebration efforts to the township-wide shared event of Charter Day," which is attended by thousands of residents.

Al LiCata, executive director of the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce, previously said that the revived National Night Out in Basking Ridge — which included fingerprinting and information booths along with food, demonstrators and other vendors — had been bringing out hundreds of residents in the last few years.

"The PBA sponsored National Night Out, [and] the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce supported it," LiCata said in an email on Tuesday. "The chamber and our members over the years of the event, supplied food, games, prizes, volunteers, child ID, set up, clean up and more," LiCata said.

"We were disappointed the township took the event out of the budget," LiCata added. "It was a well attended event, as residents looked forward to it each year."