‘National Night Out’ to Expand in Hatboro

Do it later and do it bigger could be the motto for Hatboro’s second annual National Night Out event. 

The borough is breaking away from holding its event on Tuesday, when most towns celebrate the nationwide anti-crime initiative.

“National Night Out allows four nights for either side of the date,” Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner said. “Doing it a couple days later we might be able to free up more people.”

Hatboro will hold its event Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Hatboro municipal parking lot on Moreland Avenue, behind McMackin Tire Service, as well as Hatboro's downtown business district.

Hatboro’s event–which the police co-sponsor with the Greater Hatboro Chamber of Commerce–drew several hundred people last year, which was the first year the town participated.

“This year we’re trying to expand it a little bit,” Gardner said.

The main focus, according to Gardner, is to interact with the community, talk informatively about the various equipment police use and offer ways for the community to protect itself. 

Attendees can have finger printing kits made for kids in the event that children are ever lost.

Representatives from Hatboro’s Enterprise Fire Co. will be in attendance, along with other local and county law enforcement agencies. A K-9 officer from Upper Moreland will be on hand, as well as the regional SWAT team.

“They kind of show the different tactics they use,” Gardner said of the SWAT team, noting that last year’s flash bank demonstration was popular among attendees. “It was a loud bang.”

The hope is that after attending the event and meeting police and other law enforcement representatives, people will more readily act as the eyes and ears of the community and call police if and when problems, or suspicious situations arise.

“That’s what we want to encourage them to do,” Gardner said.

Dubbed “America’s Night Out Against Crime,” National Night Out first started in 1984. The effort now involves more than 37 million people and 15,000 communities in all 50 states, according to the National Association of Town Watch’s Web site.

If you go

Hatboro’s free and family-friendly second annual National Night Out event will be held on Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Hatboro Municipal Parking Lot on Moreland Avenue, behind McMackin Tire Service, which is located at 2 South York Road, as well as Hatboro's downtown business district. Click here to see more on the event as posted on Patch.