Hinesburg To Participate in Town's First National Night Out
By Claire MacDonald
Hinesburg Record Staff Reporter
Chief of Police Christopher Romance will open up the Hinesburg Police Department for members of the public to tour emergency vehicles, see the premises and speak with law enforcement officers on Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The event will mark Hinesburg’s first time opting into a nationwide effort, National Night Out: a free, annual event held by police departments around the country on the first Tuesday of August.
National Night Out describes itself as a community-building campaign that intends to foster connection between the public and their law enforcement, with the aim of making neighborhoods “safer, stronger, and more caring places to live.”
Hinesburg’s National Night Out will include representatives from the Hinesburg Fire Department, Richmond Rescue, Vermont Emergency Management, and the Vermont National Guard.
Chief Romance noted that only a few departments in the surrounding area participate in the event.
“I thought it would be important to interact with the community, invite them to the police station to speak to our officers, and look at our equipment,” he said.
The fire department will have a couple of their vehicles available for attendees to tour. Richmond Rescue will bring an ambulance as well.
When Romance worked as the training director for Oyster Bay’s Department of Public Safety, he was involved in the event every year. He said he found it to be worthwhile, and thought it would be beneficial to introduce it to Hinesburg.
“This is a less stressful way for [people] to meet the police than if we’re responding to a call,” he said. “This is an opportunity for them to come to the police department in a relaxed setting [and] ask questions they may be thinking, but are afraid to ask at other times … It’s also an opportunity for children in the community to come and have positive interactions with the police department at an early age.”
National Night Out is one element of Romance’s broader mission to increase engagement between the community and the police department; something he saw in Hinesburg already, but wanted to enhance upon his arrival.
“We’re starting off small, being that it’s our first one. If it’s successful, then we’ll expand for next year,” he said.