Tuesday was an evening many throughout New York’s communities were looking forward to: National Night Out. It’s a national initiative that puts law enforcement officers into the community to interact with community members for fun.

The goal of the 1984 tradition is to build respect and bonds, have conversations and have fun with officers while they’re out of uniform. This way, if an emergency strikes, the community can feel more comfortable with their local responding officer, according to the Syracuse Police Department.

Tom Blake, SPD public information officer, says departments can learn a lot from the community to improve.

“We refer to these conversations, or these encounters, as kind of making deposits. A lot of times people see police, they see them in that capacity where they’re out there focused on the criminality portion. And you kind of focus on the badge and the uniform and not the person that’s wearing it. So this is a perfect way, like many of the other events that we do, to really just have one-on-one conversations,” Blake explained. “And we’re all open, all of us that are going to be down here. We can have those tough conversations and we can have a difference in opinion. But more often than not, at the end of that conversation, we can walk away with a better understanding of each other. And I think when you start to build that respect.”

Dozens of events took place across the state.

Oftentimes, law enforcement teams up with fire departments, county agencies and other city programs for these events to bring more resources to the community.

“Safe neighborhoods are built through strong relationships between residents and the people who serve their communities,” Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said in a statement. “National Night Out gives us an opportunity to strengthen those relationships and show what it means to be the City of Good Neighbors. I encourage everyone to attend an event in their neighborhood and spend some time getting to know the people who call it home.”

An event took place at Kirk Park in Syracuse and included fire trucks along with a mobile petting zoo and a bounce house. 

“Having all our various partners here in the neighborhood is important,” Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said. “You build trust and you build relationships with people. So, that’s what it’s all about. What a great event for kids and young people to come to this summer.”

According to National Night Out, 17,000 communities took part, including more than 100 in New York state.