Hundreds Attend National Night Out in Norcross

Tuesday turned out to be a stellar afternoon for the city's second annual National Night Out in Norcross. Lillian Webb Park was filled with residents who came to enjoy the late afternoon activities at the downtown venue. 

It was the second time that Norcross Police participated in the National Nigh Out, a movement that began in 1984 to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.

Norcross Police Chief Warren Summers said getting the word out to the city's Hispanic community that the police are here to help is one of the main objectives in holding the event.

"Forty percent of the population of the city of Norcross is Hispanic," said Summers who added that it is often those whose native language is not English that often are victims of crimes.

Communication officers were on hand at the Norcross Police tent to hand out balloons, coloring books, stickers to the children who stopped by. 

"We'd like to see this event grow," said Captain Brian Harr, Support Services Commandeer for the Police Department.

According to the National Night Out website, the first year it was held, 2.5 million Americans took part across 400 communities in 23 states. Today over 37 million people in 15,000 communities in all 50 states are involved in the movement.

One of the Norcross Police Department's outreach programs is the Hispanic citizens Police Academy, a nine-week program which is taught in Spanish and designed to allow the Hispanic community to have a better understanding of the police department, how it functions and more importantly how it can assist the community.

Visit the National Night Out website for additional information.