Every year on the first Tuesday in August, the United States and Canada celebrate National Night Out, which consists of civilians, organizations and the Alliance Police Department where they all come together to enhance the relationship between neighborhoods and communities.
“We are hosting National Night out. The concept behind this is to get people to get out and talk to one another, mingling, getting to know each other. We are just one big community and the more that we grab each other’s arms and work together to combat crime in our community and embrace one another and help each other out, the more that crime will go down in communities and we have a better quality of life and enjoyment of life, and all that contributes to the best hometown in America,” said APD Chief Philip Lukens.
There was a lot of different events going on at National Night Out, with live music, booths with information on the community, face painting, and food, all things a family could enjoy.
“I think it is nice because it is family orientated. I think that it is a good thing that it is happening. It is too bad that more people did not come out. Otherwise, it was a good turnout and a good crowd. I like that there were new officers out here familiarizing and being friendly with the community,” said Nick Moses.
Among those at the event, there were new police officers who answered questions asked by community members and posed for photos. They also made some food on the grill.
“I think it is great. It allows the cop to become personal with the community and build that relationship. We are always looking to have good contacts with the community,” said APD Officer Bryan Buskirk.
There was also a variety of different stands set up offering information. Eric Pulver was there with a program from UNL called Rural Fellows. He shared information about Activate Alliance’s community bike share program.
“The Activate Alliance program is a program that is sponsored and runs through the police department and Panhandle Public Health, where they distribute bikes for a bike share program, for anyone to be able to use their donated bikes that are put out in the city,” said Pulver.