National Night Out held in Milan, Jackson
JACKSON, Tenn. – From Milan to Jackson, residents and members of law enforcement came together for National Night Out.
The Jackson Police Department held its 40th National Night Out Tuesday evening in downtown Jackson.
This is the first time they held a block party at the police station. This community-building campaign provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together.
“This is the day every year that we partner with the community to have neighborhood block parties, and we get everyone together just to get to know each other a little bit better and just basically tell crime to go away,” said Jackson Police Chief Thom Corley.
Residents enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers, played games, and had the opportunity to connect with officers through different activities. This is a meaningful night to law enforcement as this enables them to connect more with their community.
“It’s huge to get community support like this. It’s a symbolic way for us as a community to come together to recognize that we’re going to do what we can to prevent crime,” Corley said.
Corley says this is the biggest National Night out they’ve seen in a while, as dozens of block parties were held in different neighborhoods.
“We’ve got over 30, almost 40 block parties going on across the city. That’s not counting what’s going on in the county. It’s huge when we get that much support and buy-in to come together for some kind of effort like this to address crime,” Corley said.
In Milan, the Milan Police Department also held a National Night Out.
The event was held at the Milan Polk Clark Enrichment Center for the 23rd year.
Law enforcement officers, as well as the Milan Fire Department, came together to spend an afternoon with the community. Families could be seen enjoying hot dogs and snacks, and children jumping on bouncy houses.
“We’ve got a lot of young people here and police officers interacting with them and so we want our kids and our young people to get to know our police officers on a personal level and let them interact with each other in a positive environment and not just when there’s a negative encounter,”
The Milan Police Department held a second block party at Cumberland Presbyterian Church for the first time and are hopeful that more will join for next year.
This event is held every first Tuesday of October.
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