Turn on Your Lights for National Night Out

National Night Out, a project to encourage police and neighborhood cooperation on anti-crime measures, is tonight.

The Charleston Police Department has teamed up with several communities around Charleston, including four in West Ashley, to hold events focused on crime prevntion and strengthening ties between residents and police.

"The goal is for the neighborhoods and the police to show unity, and for the neighborhoods to stand up and say they're not going to tolerate crime," Charleston Police Sgt. Trevor Shelor said.

Shelor, a member of the department's Crime Prevention team helped organize the events and will be attending each of the West Ashley area events with McGruff the Crime Dog throughout the evening.

NNO events are planned for 5:30 - 7 p.m. at the clubhouse/office of the Palms Apartment Complex at 311 Royal Palm Blvd., 6 - 8 p.m. in the Moreland neighborhood at 752 Woodward Road, 6 - 8 p.m. at the pool in the Village Green neighborhood at 4048 Laurelwood Drive, and 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the clubhouse/office of Ashley Grove Apartments at 1735 Ashley Hall Road.

National Night Out started in 1983, and the Charleston Police Department has been holding NNO events for more than a decade, Shelor said. NNO encourages people to leave their porch lights on for the evening and hold block parties or neighborhood vigils as a signal to criminals that the community is paying attention. Many neighborhoods hold bllock parties, cookouts and flahslight walks among other events.

"I've been doing them at least 10 or 11 years and it was something that was always there," he said. "We used to do one centralized event, but it was hard to find one big place to do it, it was hard on us to organize it and a lot of people didn't come, so we switched to doing smaller events in nieghborhoods."

Shelor sent out emails to every neighborhood organization and community watch program the department has in its database asking if they wanted to participate in NNO events. In West Ashley the Palms Apartments, Moreland, Village Green and Ashley Grove Apartments were the ones that signed up.

"It's all voluntary, we don't pick the neighborhoods," Shelor said. "They sign up for it. Some years we'll have 10 or more, some years we'll have less. This year we had four."

Shelor said the NNO events give the department an opportunity to speak to a large percentage of the residents of a participating community. It uses that opportunity to inform the residents about crime issues in and around their neighborhoods and to pass along helpful information on crime prevention and even how to set up neighborhood watch programs.

Shelor said National Night Out is not the only time the department makes these efforts with communities in the city, and he and other officers in the Crime Prevention team regularly meet with neighborhood organizations about the same issues.

To reach Shelor for more information about crime prevention efforts that can be undertaken by area residents call 769-7407, or email shelort@charleston-sc.gov or crimeprevention@charleston-sc.gov.