National Night Out Celebrated Across Charlotte Communities

Hector Aguilar and his family are were out for a night of fun.

“It’s our first time, me and my wife we rode by, we saw everyone giving our free stuff and all the events, just coming out and being a part of the community here,” he says.

Tonight, they’re celebrating national night out with other of neighbors in the North Tryon Division, along with first responders in Charlotte.

“Our whole goal is to provide and serve the residents and visitors of the city, this gives us the opportunity to meet our residents,” says the Fire Chief of the City of Charlotte, Reginald Johnson.

Some of the people living here are already close with law enforcement. Sheriff Gary McFadden of Mecklenburg County says plenty of people at the Hidden Valley event at Tom Hunter Park.

“A lot of these people know my family, my kids, they know me by first name,” he said. “And the officers should know them by first name so we aren’t strangers to them.”

Chief Johnny Jennings of CMPD tells me that the first time you meet a police officer should not be on your worst day.

“To be able to come out here and celebrate relationships and neighborhoods, and for us to be apart of that means so much to the police department,” says Jennings.

Another priority of National Night Out is to encourage safety and reduce violence in communities. U.S. Attorney of the Western District of North Carolina Dena J. King, know the importance of teaching clidren the importnce of healthy relationships with law enforcement.

“Our young people have the right to grow up to be adults, law enforcement cant do this on their own,”  King says.

As for Aguilar, he just hopes this event can show his kids their potential.

“in the future,” he said,  “They could be a fire fighter, a police officer, they could be something in life.”