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National Night Out Brings Law Enforcement, Community Together

By Eric Ayres 4 min read

WHEELING - Hundreds of visitors - from children to adults - gathered at Wheeling Park on Tuesday evening when the Wheeling Police Department and several of its community partners hosted the annual National Night Out.

The event, now in its 43rd year, is part of a nationwide effort to build community relationships between law enforcement agencies and the people they serve. The campaign promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.

"It started in the mid-1980s," Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger noted. "Law enforcement agencies across the United States do their thing - a lot of them do it differently."

In Wheeling, the police department was already holding its annual event as part of the national campaign even before Schwertfeger arrived in Wheeling 14 years ago, he said.

"As opposed to going to different neighborhoods and spending 10 or 15 minutes, we do one location for two solid hours, have static displays, bring in some organizations that want to promote what they do - and we kind of make it a community event all in one location," said Schwertfeger.

The event provides an opportunity to bring law enforcement personnel together with people in the community to interact with them, provide first-hand demonstrations, offer information about what they do and show them various pieces of equipment used in community policing.

Many of the demonstrations and activities are interactive and fun, and a lot of them are aimed at sparking the interest of children who come to check things out.

The many displays by police agencies and community partners offered information and giveaways. Demonstrations and informational booths include the Wheeling Police Department drone, UTV and three-wheeled Trikke, Fatal Vision obstacle course simulator, tactical gear, fingerprinting and many others. One of the most popular features of the annual National Night Out event in Wheeling has been the K-9 unit demonstrations.

Handlers Cpl. Jason Martin and Officer Patrick Ryan coordinated sniffing and bite demonstrations with K-9s Ozzy and Geist, respectively. Ozzy is trained in explosive detection, and Geist specializes in narcotics detection. They are two of three K-9s currently active on the Wheeling Police Department’s force.

During Tuesday night’s demonstration, Martin explained the different training the K-9s receive to do different duties.

"His nose is thousands of times stronger than yours or mine," Martin told a group of children on hand during the sniffing demonstration with Ozzy. "He can smell things down to the microscopic level. They can detect exactly where the odors are coming from - they use their superior sense of smell."

Martin later put on a bite suit and was apprehended by Geist, a K-9 that only answers commands in German.

Several community partners also participated in the National Night Out, with booths from the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office, Youth Services System Inc., the YWCA of Wheeling, CASA, the U.S. Army, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and many others sharing information and keepsakes.

The evening also allowed visitors to learn about anti-crime awareness programs in the city, such as neighborhood watch meetings and the citizens police academy.

"It’s always good to get to know the people who we’re protecting, and we’ve said it 100 times - we can’t do our jobs without the good folks in the community helping us, and vice versa," said Wheeling Police Department Deputy Chief Josh Sanders. "It’s good to have that harmony and to work together."

The event also provided complimentary pizza, popsicles, snacks and drinks for a fun summer gathering that many members of the community look forward to every year.

"It’s become an annual tradition - people have come to know to look for this the first Tuesday in August," Schwertfeger said. "We really value our community partnerships, and that’s what it’s all about. We’re happy to host this."

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