When we speak to law enforcement, certain phrases are reiterated more frequently then others, and among those are common wishes from our first responders.

Those wishes are not exclusively crime related either — though reminders to take simple precautions like locking car doors at night are frequent — some of the most common wishes expressed by law enforcement can be summed up in a desire for a stronger community.

Communities look out for each other in so many ways. Community means calling your neighbor or the police when someone you don’t recognize is sneaking into a nearby backyard. Community is taking a meal to a neighbor who is having a hard time.

In ideal cases, communities join together and confront problems head on. Communities like Calumet Village have spent a lot of time establishing what community means to them in order to work toward an even better community in the future.

Strong communities are also one of the best deterrents for crime. The police (or fire department or paramedics) cannot be everywhere, but as neighbors, as a community, we can look out for each other and call for help when needed.

This of course builds to the stated goal of National Night Out — building relationships with the community. The men and women of law enforcement who came out last night were making a commitment to be members of the community, to be that neighbor that you can count on because that is part of a strong community too. Because they don’t want locals to only see them when something is wrong but during good times too so that they can share the community’s joy before returning to that never ending job of protecting the community with their service.