Glen Ridge enjoys National Night Out

Glen Ridge held its National Night Out at the community pool Thursday evening, Aug. 3.

The country wide event began in 1984 as a law enforcement effort to restore safety to neighborhood streets by filling them with residents, hometown organizations and activities.

But the genesis for National Night Out, according to its website, began in 1970, in Philadelphia, with Matt Peskin, a volunteer neighborhood watch patrolman, who recognized that a multitude of watch groups shared the same concerns but were unconnected to each other.

A few years later, he established the National Association of Town Watch to dissolve this isolation with shared information. The association now administers NNO which involves 17,000 communities and occurs generally on Aug. 1.

At the borough event, there were information tables for the public library; Mountainside Hospital; the Brain Injury Alliance of NJ; and BESMART, a non-partisan organization for gun safety, among others.

The Montclair Fire Department, which covers the borough, brought two trucks and Homeland Security, from the NYC office, sent a tactical team and command vehicle.
Glen Ridge police played bean bag tossing with children; a deejay played music and free pizza and hot dogs were available as were passes to the pool for the evening. The event was organized by Detective Anthony Re, of the Glen Ridge Police Department.

  Glen Ridge, Glen Ridge Police Department