Heralded by flashing lights and wailing sirens, local police officers, firefighters and city representatives toured selected parts of the city on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 7 to seek community cooperation in fighting crime and make the city a safer and friendlier place.
Riverbank's first official National Night Out proved a great success.
As lights and sirens approached, curious small boys ran to meet them while some adults initially hastened indoors in apprehension. But as city workers unloaded a portable barbecue and police officers went door to door inviting people to share in a meal, residents flooded outdoors to eat, accept gifts for the children, inspect the emergency vehicles and chat with the officers.
At Burney Court in the downtown, Police Chief Tim Beck and fellow officers set up tables, volunteer Scott Pettit went to work cooking hot dogs, motorcycle cop Gary Vernon displayed his machine and firefighters Michael Wapnowski and others explained the equipment on their truck.
At Castleberg Park, the event drew a crowd of over 200 people, when a helicopter of the Sheriff's Aero Squadron touched down. The helicopter afforded Sheriff Adam Christianson and County Supervisor Jeff Grover a quick visit to the town and the local youth a chance to clamber all over the machine.
The caravan of vehicles then made its way to La Costa Court in the River Cove subdivision for another barbecue event before finishing up in the Crossroads area outside Target, which is a national sponsor of National Night Out and contributed a dozen volunteers to help out at the event.
Riverbank's first official National Night Out proved a great success.
As lights and sirens approached, curious small boys ran to meet them while some adults initially hastened indoors in apprehension. But as city workers unloaded a portable barbecue and police officers went door to door inviting people to share in a meal, residents flooded outdoors to eat, accept gifts for the children, inspect the emergency vehicles and chat with the officers.
At Burney Court in the downtown, Police Chief Tim Beck and fellow officers set up tables, volunteer Scott Pettit went to work cooking hot dogs, motorcycle cop Gary Vernon displayed his machine and firefighters Michael Wapnowski and others explained the equipment on their truck.
At Castleberg Park, the event drew a crowd of over 200 people, when a helicopter of the Sheriff's Aero Squadron touched down. The helicopter afforded Sheriff Adam Christianson and County Supervisor Jeff Grover a quick visit to the town and the local youth a chance to clamber all over the machine.
The caravan of vehicles then made its way to La Costa Court in the River Cove subdivision for another barbecue event before finishing up in the Crossroads area outside Target, which is a national sponsor of National Night Out and contributed a dozen volunteers to help out at the event.
