For those who have long complained that the first Tuesday of each August is to hot and humid to host a National Night Out event, your concerns have been answered. While not developed as an alternative to the annual NNO event, the new Celebrate Safe Communities, kicking off on October 2 - 4, 2008, does offer another crime prevention event venue for communities who wish to avoid the August heat. Other benefits of the program are the cost factor, or lack there of. Unlike the annual National Night Out event where participating communities must purchase everything and anything that has the NNO brand name or logo on it from the non-profit who runs the event, the Celebrate Safe Communities project does not charge for such items. Developed in partnership with the National Sheriffs' Association and the National Crime Prevention Council with funding by the U.S. DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance, participating communities are not held to one vendor.

For communities who want to create event items such as large banners, t-shirts, etc., the Celebrate Safe Communities project allows communities to print their own items. Using local vendors versus just one source avoids a monopoly situation in which the only winner is the one who controls the monopoly which is not in the best interest of your agency or community.

For communities upset after recently learning that the National Night Out founder receives an annual taxpayer funded compensation package in excess of $300,000 a year and the NNO's board of directors are all friends and family members, this is an opportunity to create their own personalized event under the CSC banner. Not to get off track but it should be noted that the NNO program no longer receives federal funding and the founder has restructured his board; however he has not revealed who the new board members are. From my own personal point of view, for those who have concerns about the NNO event, the CSC may be an event to look at implementing as it's run by two long standing professional organizations: the NSA and NCPC with oversight from the U.S. DOJ's, Bureau of Justice Assistance, a very credible federal agency.

Program Benefits and Freebies!

While it's not to late to host a Celebrate Safe Communities event on October 2 - 4, 2008, unfortunately the deadline passed on September 5th to receive some free items from the program. However it's never to early to start planning for next years event. Free program items include: