Crime Fighting Starts With BBQs and Bounce Houses

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Hundreds of events, large and small, are planned in neighborhoods and parks in the Sacramento area as part of “National Night Out.”  The short-term goal of the event is to introduce neighbors to each other at a cookout or block party with the long-term goal of crime prevention. The Sacramento Police Department says communication is key to preventing and solving crime.

“When you know your neighbor to your left and you know your neighbor to your right, you get to know what their cadence is, where they’re working, who comes over to the house," says Sergeant Michele Gigante.  "Those little things might prompt a phone call into the police department for us to check something out and before you know it, we might be thwarting crime.”

Heidi Silva is with Summertime Apartments on Walerga Road in Sacramento.  The apartment complex expects more than 200 people to attend its event.  She says she wishes other complexes in the area were involved, especially given the area’s recent crime wave.

“The drug activity has increased dramatically," she says.  "We’ve had several homicides the last few months –a couple of them involving children.”

While some National Night Out events are in high-crime areas, many others are in places with established Neighborhood Watch programs and low crime rates.

Police officers and firefighters from all over the region will be attending as many parties as they can.  There are more than 140 events in the city and county of Sacramento, and more in Elk Grove, Davis, Woodland, Yuba City and Roseville. 

Nationwide, 37 million people are expected to participate in 15,000 communities. 

Click for more information on Sacramento County, Elk Grove, Woodland, Roseville, Yuba/Sutter counties  events and here for more information on the national event.  Below is a map of events in the city of Sacramento.

 CLICK ON EACH LOCATION FOR DETAILS: