Charlestown celebrates National Night Out with city police
Aug. 2—CHARLESTOWN — National Night Out is an annual celebration that promotes police and community partnerships as well as neighborhood camaraderie.
Tuesday was National Night Out, and Charlestown celebrated the evening with the city police at the Family Activities Park.
National Night Out was started in August 1984 by Matt Peskin, a volunteer for the Merion Community Watch program in Philadelphia. Since then, the night is celebrated in every state. This year Indiana had 79 cities celebrate the event.
The night brings police officers and community members together in unity in a positive setting.
"It just gives them the opportunity to see the officers in a different light. A lot of people drive by and they see an officer on a traffic stop writing a ticket or giving a warning," said Brion Gilbert, Charlestown's assistant police chief. "It gives them the chance to realize we're human too, see the softer side."
Free food was provided by Mission BBQ. A K9 demonstration was held and all the park amenities were open to guests who went to the event.
"We want to open our department up for the community, let the kids in the community come out and meet the officers," Gilbert said. "It's not just for kids, adults can come out too."
Charlestown Police Sgt. Eric Kruse was also at the event. He had copies of a motivational coloring book he produced based on police work.
The book has pictures for children to color and includes quotes to motivate children to always do the right thing.
"I work nights, so on my nights off, I'm bored at the house all night long and really just tired of doing nothing," Kruse said. "I started thinking of ways I could reach out and connect with the younger generation."
Kruse started researching his interest and saw that a coloring book was one idea that he could use.
Despite not really being on the artistic side, Kruse wanted to branch out and try something new.
"It kind of surprised me with the way the community reached out," Kruse said. "I didn't think it would be as popular as it was."
To buy the book go to Amazon and search for "Eric Kruse coloring book."
He is also planning on making a whole coloring book series featuring first responders, firefighters, EMS and doctors and nurses.
Kruse is also working on writing a children's story book. He is expecting that book to be published within the next few weeks.
"It's going to be about a child growing up wanting to be a police officer and some of the lessons him and his friends learned along the way," Kruse said. "We did the illustrations in a way where any kid could envision themselves in that spot."
