By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent
A name is just a name.
Community involvement is what has made National Night Out special for the city and its citizens for the last 11 years and police won’t do anything to jeopardize that, said Crime Prevention Officer Pat Mans.
With all the negative press the National Association of Town Watch (the umbrella company for National Night Out) has received as a result of the executive’s hefty pay, police want to ensure the community that nothing, but possibly the name of the event, will change next year.
Police are currently in the process of determining the route they will take with National Night Out in 2009, Mans said. Whether police choose to stay with the name “National Night Out” because of its recognition or change it to “Night to Unite” is just a detail, he said.
“If I do my job, citizens shouldn’t see any change,” Mans said. “This is such a popular event for police, firefighters, the city and the neighborhoods that we will not do anything to jeopardize that night.”
Regardless of what the name of the event is next year, it will still be held the first Tuesday of August. If anything changes, citizens will be given plenty of information and time to adapt, Mans said.
Although police went with the name National Night Out in 2008, the department didn’t pay the $25 membership fee or buy any T-shirts, ad banners, tattoos or other merchandise from National Night Out, Mans said.
“We still had our biggest turnout for National Night Out so far,” Mans said of the 120 stops police and firefighters made in 82 neighborhoods.
Rather than using National Night Out merchandise, Mans said police promoted everything in-house through the Savage Pacer, Neighborhood Watch, the city Web site and word of mouth.
“We are still supporting the event of National Night Out, we are just doing it differently,” Mans said. “What the executive (of National Night Out) decides to pay himself and how he chooses to operate his organization is his decision now that it is a private company. We will not allow the politics of National Night Out affect how we treat our citizens and community during than night.
“We are going to keep it positive in lieu of the negative press,” he added. “Where else do you get that kind of community involvement in one night?”
Next year
The Minnesota Crime Prevention Association voted to cut ties with the National Association of Town Watch and will promote Minnesota Night to Unite in 2009.
If any neighborhood in the community chooses to go with a different name, they will not be isolated, Mans said. It’s simply a different option for those who don’t want to participate in National Night Out, he said.
Savage began participating in National Night Out in the late 1990s. Since the first year, community involvement has increased by more than 10 times, he said.
Savage won awards for community participation in the past, but Mans said police chose not to compete in awards this year because, as a staff, they get just as much satisfaction seeing how successful the event is with the community. Police chose to put the focus on citizens rather than the competition, he said.
“The event isn’t about police, firefighters or city staff,” Mans said. “It’s about the citizens. This event is so popular in Savage that it is expected to happen. If police did anything to jeopardize that night with the community, we would have a lot of damage control to do. We will not do anything to mess this up.”
Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com.