By Matt de Simone
Last Tuesday, friends and neighbors in Botetourt County were treated to another “National Night Out”—an evening of community-police awareness-raising provided by the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office in partnership with local businesses.
National Night Out provides educational and technical assistance to develop effective year-long community-police partnerships designed to reduce crime, violence, and substance abuse at the community level.
The National Association of Town Watch (NATW) first established the event in 1984. Since the first event, well over 9,500 communities in all 50 states, Washington D.C., five U.S. territories, numerous Canadian cities, and U.S. military bases worldwide celebrate National Night Out.
The event engaged the community in local crime and drug abuse prevention activities. The Virginia State Police set up a beer goggle course. The Virginia Conservation Police brought in one of their boats. Camp Eagle provided a climbing wall, challenging the local youth to scale eagerly.
Local members of Botetourt’s Fire & EMS workers engaged with those in attendance while standing around local response vehicles.
The Sheriff’s Department worked alongside Austin Electrical, Davis H. Elliott Co., and Lawrence Companies while producing another successful “Night Out” in Botetourt.
Sprinkel’s Garage provided a sound stage where local musicians David Austin and Keith Wood performed an acoustic set of folk music.
The community sat in the parking lot and enjoyed a master fireworks display to close the night.
