National Night Out great for community

Terre Haute, Ind. (WTHI) - People in Terre Haute had multiple run-ins with law enforcement Tuesday evening, but it wasn't because they were in trouble.
     
It was National Night Out, which gives citizens a chance to meet area leaders.

Most times when you see emergency personnel it doesn't include a dunk tank, but that's exactly what this event is all about.

"The times they get to work with the police or fire department is a bad situation, some tragedy or criminal activity," said Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett. "This is a chance to come out and meet them and interact with them and find out their just normal people like everybody else."

However, it doesn't just give people the chance to meet area leaders. It actually works both ways.

"It's a great event for us to build that relationship with our community," said Terre Haute Police Chief John Plasse, "and it just builds when they tell us thing that are going on so we can take care of them."

The annual get-together offers hands-on fun for all ages.

It shows even the youngest participants that these people are here to help.

"It's nice to know that they can come out and meet them and talk to them and get to know that they're here to help them," said Krissy Guire, a mother and participant in the event.

"The uniform sometimes can be intimidating," said Chief Plasse, "Seeing us this way and seeing we're normal people just like everybody else in our community, when something happens they're not afraid to approach us and tell us about something."

National Night Out isn't just a chance to see local law enforcement. it's actually a chance to get to know local leaders and organizations in our community.

"You've got not-for-profits that kind of provide a lot of service for the community, you've got the prosecutors office, the health department, the police department, sheriffs department, kind of all the agencies that you might need to deal with," said Mayor Bennett.

Making the community come together at an event that keeps the communication going all year round.

"I'll hear about it till next year," said Mayor Bennett. "People will say, 'we were at national night out and we loved it, and we'd like to be able to participate in it next year,' and you get more and more people and it just keeps growing."