The National Association of Town Watch, the lead organizer of National Night Out, has released its 2017 awards. According to their published rankings of U.S. cities who participated in National Night Out in 2017, Arlington was ranked #2 in Category 1, which is designated for large cities with populations greater than 300,000.

The rankings are based on a number of factors, including the overall quality of a city’s National Night Out community engagement campaign, neighborhood participation and law enforcement involvement. Arlington’s 2017 campaign included a safety fair, presentations to community groups, newspaper advertising, radio, television promotions and social media, including a National Night Out movie trailer at the Arlington Parks Mall AMC Theater. Arlington residents registered 223 neighborhood activities on National Night Out, an increase of 18 percent over 2016.

“Despite the heavy rainfall, Arlington residents didn’t let that put a damper on the celebration of police and community partnerships,” said Police Chief Will Johnson. “Residents across the city moved activities to indoor facilities and connected with their neighbors, police officers, elected officials and first responders.”

National Night Out is an annual campaign that promotes police-community partnerships to make neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live. It is a great platform for dialogue to take place as questions arise from the community about public safety issues. The department is already making preparations for another banner year in 2018. Mark your calendars now with National Night Out returning on Tuesday, October 2, 2018.