Moving Away From National Night Out
By JB Smith, Officer – Lufkin Police Department

As a Crime Prevention Officer and Board Member of the East Texas regional branch of the Texas Crime Prevention Association (TCPA.org), I am continually looking for ways to increase and improve upon crime prevention activities. Recently we, the East Texas Crime Prevention Association, began the process of moving East Texas away from participating in National Night Out™ (NNO™) activities, and into its own annual crime prevention program. The basic idea is to discontinue our participation in NNO™ each August and hold a "Texas Night Out" in October.

The move came about due to a steady decline over the past several years in citizen involvement in many crime prevention activities. Citizens are once again withdrawing into their respective residences and isolating themselves from their community and their neighbors. Knowing your neighbors is an important step in general crime prevention and in guaranteeing safety in your community. A core belief of the crime prevention/community policing philosophy is that law enforcement and citizens have a responsibility to work together to protect our communities, but without a stimulus for getting citizens once again involved in crime prevention activities the needed law enforcement-citizen interaction will not take place. National Night Out™ serves as that stimulus for much of the nation.
 

NNO™ has been successful in many communities across the nation in increasing crime prevention understanding, generating support/participation in crime prevention programs, and improving police-community alliances, but little of that success has been seen in many parts of Texas. Over the last several years it has become apparent that planning successful NNO™ events (which take place each year on the first Tuesday of August) is simply too challenging for Texas residents. Regardless of the commitment level of the NNO™ event planner, battling the excessive heat and humidity of August in Texas always proves too difficult. As an alternative to NNO™, we are working toward the creation of an annual, statewide event to encourage crime prevention through community involvement – a Texas version of National Night Out™.

The idea of a “Texas Night Out” is not new; it has been discussed unofficially for many years and officially in recent years. The Texas Crime Prevention Association (TCPA) Board in 2005 and again earlier this year informed its members that they were working in conjunction with the Texas Police Chief’s Association to create such a program. Delays resulted because the implementation of a statewide program is an involved and time-consuming process. As we awaited the product of the collaboration between the two state-level associations, we were eager to initiate something within the communities we serve.
 

While realizing the difficulties involved with creating a statewide program, we believed that implementing one at the regional level, while not a simple task, could be accomplished in a much shorter timeframe. With the support of our agency administrators and the East Texas Police Chief’s Association, Crime Prevention officers across East Texas planned to bring together our community groups in time to have a successful program for October 2007. As TCPA members, we wanted to bolster the statewide program effort, not hinder it, and we felt that any projects or programs we began now could be adjusted, altered or absorbed into the finished product brought about by the Texas Crime Prevention and Police Chief’s associations.

In planning the new program we studied the success of Arizona’s G.A.I.N. program – “Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods”. G.A.I.N., Arizona’s annual alternative for NNO™, has produced outstanding results – between 2002 and 2006, the Scottsdale, Arizona area witnessed a 300% increase in the number of communities participating in G.A.I.N. activities.

As with the State of Arizona, we chose the month of October for holding our NNO™ alternative program. Not only will the weather be more agreeable, but October is National Crime Prevention Month, making it the perfect time to generate increased participation in neighborhood association programs and other crime prevention activities in East Texas communities. Knowing the new program needed its own name, we decided on T.A.C.™ – Texans Against Crime™. We believe that through the T.A.C.™ program Law Enforcement can strengthen our communities and enhance the quality of life in East Texas by helping to educate citizens on crime prevention and by promoting neighborhood alliances for addressing non law enforcement issues.

On April 19, 2007, I met with the East Texas Police Chief’s Association to discuss the T.A.C.™ program and seek their support for instituting it throughout East Texas this October. The proposal was well received. Not only did the East Texas Police Chief’s Association pass unanimously a motion to fully support the T.A.C.™ program, they also drafted a letter to their State level Association requesting they consider passing a resolution in support of the program. Randall Freeman, Director of Public Safety and City Manager for the City of Henderson, is the current Texas Police Chief’s Association President and is a member of the East Texas Police Chief’s Association. Mr. Freeman attended the April 19th meeting and said he believed the “State” would support to program.

With the support of the East Texas Police Chiefs, and the potential support of the Texas Police Chief’s Association, we decided to present the idea to the Texas Crime Prevention Association (TCPA) and allow them to consider implementing the T.A.C.™ program statewide. The TCPA Board responded positively to the idea and requested that I formally present the program to the TCPA Board and TCPA membership during the Association’s annual summer conference, July 15-20, 2007, in Richardson, Texas. I attended the conference and presented the information regarding the T.A.C.™ program to the members present; approximately 200 law enforcement and civilian crime prevention personnel from law enforcement agencies across the state attended the conference. Members present at the General Membership meeting were very excited about the program and voted to have TCPA support the program, with the intent that TCPA expand the program in the coming years. I attempted to make it very clear to everyone at the conference that the T.A.C.™ program is not an attempt to do away with National Night Out™; agencies wishing to continue participating in NNO™ are encouraged to do so. NNO™ plays an important crime prevention role across the nation. Some East Texas area agencies have funding tied to NNO™ and will participate in the event this August; these agencies plan to also participate this October in T.A.C.™. While other agencies, such as Lufkin PD, will discontinue their NNO™ involvement and focus solely on the T.A.C.™ program.

Whether the T.A.C.™ program is ultimately adopted statewide or absorbed into another program, we have the backing of many East Texas Law Enforcement agencies, including those in the Tyler, Longview, and Lufkin areas, so East Texas will move forward with inaugural celebrations on the evening of Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Barring any changes made at the State level, the T.A.C.™ program will continue each year on the second Tuesday in October.
 

We anticipate T.A.C.™ activities to be similar to those of past NNO™ events, including; block parties, potluck or progressive plate dinners, ice cream socials, community festivals, crime prevention presentations, and safety-product demonstrations. Regardless of the activity chosen, the overall goal is to engage citizens in crime prevention; an aware and informed citizen is one of our best tools against crime. I believe that we have created a worthwhile crime prevention program that can reinvigorate crime prevention efforts across Texas.