FAIRMONT — Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine had a lot more ground to cover at this year’s National Night Out.
This year’s event took place at East Marion Park, a much larger venue from its previous location at Veteran’s Square in downtown.
“It’s definitely spread out,” Shine said. “People have room to breathe. There’s no roads to cross. It’s not as hot, some shady areas, playground equipment. For a few years now, we’ve been over running that little area and more people want to take part and just the visitors and parking and access and everything like that. We thought that this would be a great spot to be able to spread out and have fun and meet the community.”
National Night Out is an annual event dedicated to building partnerships between community and police. The first National Night Out was introduced in 1984 and took place in 400 communities in 23 states. Today, National Night Out reaches 17,000 communities across the country. The event in Fairmont has expanded to include first responders and social workers as well.
Shine said National Night Out is supposed to break down barriers between police, first responders and the people they serve.
“Most of the time, whenever we meet people, sometimes it’s on the worst day of their life,” he said. “So right now, it’s just an informal event. We’re walking around, handing out things, smiling at people. Maybe that’ll free up conversation so we can answer some questions and clear up some concerns and misconceptions. They can ask us why we do what we do or why don’t do what we don’t do.”
Shine said a lot of people are intimidated by authorities, and National Night Out gives a chance to show that police are just average people as well.
Fairmont Police, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, West Virginia State Police, FBI CJIS, Grant Town EMS and the Marion County Quick Response Team were part of the event. Rene Graves, City of Fairmont grant administrator, said that even though the event was hosted by Fairmont, it was for all of Marion County. The city wanted to have a safe area for kids and families to come and enjoy themselves.
“I’m really excited about the turnout,” Graves said. “Fairmont State did a phenomenal job putting on the kids zone for us. So, I think the kids have really enjoyed it. It’s been really busy down there and I think everybody looks like they’re having a really good time.”
Graves said the event was valuable for children, because they might not understand the role of law enforcement. Oftentimes, encountering law enforcement might be only associated with a tragedy. Giving kids a chance to get to know members of law enforcement is important, compared to meeting them when something horrific happens.
Maxine Harker, team coordinator for the Quick Response Team, said the event is good because people are more receptive than they otherwise would normally be. Kids learn bad situations don’t mean they don’t get better. She said it also provides awareness for the kinds of resources that are in the community, such as Communities of Shalom, WVU Medicine and others.
Tedd Taylor, of Fairmont, was at the event with his family to get the kids out of the house, but the free food was a draw. He said he respected the goal of the event, but wasn’t sure how far he’d get when it came to discussing how to interact with the police with his 12 and 10 year old. It’s not something they discuss on a daily basis. Moreover, their interactions with the police are already positive.
While Taylor was supportive, one aspect did raise an eyebrow. The large tactical vehicle posted at the front of the event.
“The militarization of the police force is not something I’m a fan of,” he said. “Countrywide — it’s pretty minimal in this area, it’s not something we see overwhelmingly. We’re a large/small community, the fact I don’t see those things regularly is a positive.”