By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Children dodged between police patrol cars, laughing as they waved to various city employees from multiple Pelham departments at National Night Out on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Pelham City Park.

With police cars, firetrucks and ambulances, National Night Out is a national campaign to build community and educate citizens about their local emergency departments.

According to Pelham Police Chief Brent Sugg, the Pelham Police Department chooses to participate in National Night Out each year to help familiarize the community with their department outside of the typical emergency setting.

“It’s just an opportunity for us to engage with the citizens of Pelham and actually anybody else in the community that wants to come out and see us,” Sugg said. “You get to visit with first responders when it’s not as a result of a 911 call, so you get to see people in a normal setting have a conversation. You get to see all of the (people) that maybe you see them driving around or you see them on a traffic stop, but you don’t really get to talk to them.”

Beyond tours of trucks and helicopters, National Night Out featured multiple demonstrations from different response units.

From vape cessation programs in schools to community partners that help people cope with fentanyl abuse, multiple organizations were present at National Night Out. Older children asked question after question to the bomb dismantling team as parents learned all about the ways that emergency services keep their families safe.

“It’s a cooperative event,” Sugg said. “It’s just it’s an opportunity for all of these groups to come together one night. The community can come out, they can meet us, they can get some food and we can have some fellowship.”

Multiple cities in Shelby County are hosting their own National Night Out events this month such as Alabaster and Calera. Sugg shared that he is always happy to see and support other departments during these community building events.

“Our community really engages with us and they really like to be a part of this, so we definitely support all of our other communities and their National Night Out,” Sugg said. “It’s an opportunity for all of us and we want to support one another because we all work together regularly.”

On a personal note, Sugg shared that his favorite part of National Night Out is watching the young children have so much fun.

“(My favorite part is) definitely the kids when they see the motorcycle or they see canine thunder or they just see our vehicles out here,” Sugg said. “It’s really exciting that it’s such a nice, safe place for them to come. I don’t think any of them are worried about anything out here tonight. They came here to eat and see our cool equipment, and that’s what we want to do is show it off to them.”

Those interested in learning more about the various emergency departments in Pelham can visit Pelhamalabama.gov/.