Photo Gallery: Lawrence Township National Night Out

Lawrence Township’s annual observance of – America’s so-called “night out against crime” – took place on Tuesday (Aug. 7) at Heritage Park, adjacent to the Eggerts Crossing Village complex at 175 Johnson Ave. The free event was open to the entire township to encourage community engagement and promote crime and drug prevention.

While members of the township police department grilled up hotdogs and hamburgers for the crowd to enjoy, members of groups like Every Child Valued, the Lawrence Township Alcohol & Drug Alliance and Princeton HealthCare System handed out informational materials. Children played basketball and enjoyed the park’s swings and slides.

Among the highlights of the evening for the many children who attended where the Lawrence Road Fire Co. fire engine, where volunteer firefighters offered kids a tour of the inside of the big truck and let them try on some real firefighting gear, and also the K-9 demonstration that Police Officer Ron Buchanan put on with two of the police department’s dogs.

One of the dogs, Knox, is trained to sniff out narcotics, while the other dog, Dyno, is able to detect explosives. The crowd was wowed as Buchanan put the dogs through exercises that demonstrated their skill, strength and obedience.

Lawrence Township Mayor Jim Kownacki and state Sen. Shirley Turner were among the officials who attended the event.

With this being its 29th year, National Night Out is a drug prevention and anti-crime initiative sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. More than 37 million people in 15,000 communities across the United States and Canada took place in the event last year, according to the National Night Out website.