IN PICTURES: NATIONAL NIGHT OUT SPOTLIGHTS THE MEN & WOMEN WHO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE

By
The Weekly Staff
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a little girl sitting in the driver's seat of a fire truck

Key West

By Mandy Miles

Fire trucks and face-painting, hamburgers and police horses were a huge hit at Key West’s annual National Night Out event on Aug. 5 at Truman Waterfront Park.

Each year, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office organizes the local part of the nationwide event in four locations throughout the Florida Keys, filling the venues with friendly faces and fun demonstrations.

The Key West event featured the MCSO bomb squad truck, boats and motorcycles, K9 officers, emergency medical workers,the Key West Police Department’s mounted patrol on horseback, Key West fire trucks, military boats and an appearance by MacGruff the crime dog, asking kids to help “take a bite out of crime.”

Volunteers from the MCSO Bureau of Corrections manned the grills, churning out free burgers and dogs all evening, and Farmer Jeanne Selander from the Sheriff’s Animal Farm brought an array of friendly reptiles for kids to hold.

Since 1984, National Night Out has been an annual community-building campaign to promote police and community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. The event enhances relationships between neighbors and law enforcement and brings police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.

Key West’s National Night Out event takes place at Truman Waterfront Park on Aug. 5, when local law enforcement welcomes kids and the community to a free, family-friendly gathering featuring fire trucks, boats, police horses and free hamburgers. NICK DOLL/Nick Doll Photography

  • a group of police officers standing next to each other
  • a group of people standing in front of a fire truck
  • a police officer sitting on top of a horse
  • a woman and two children standing in the grass
  • a woman holding a child on the back of a truck
  • a group of men standing around a red truck
  • a group of people standing around a grill
  • a little boy standing next to a fire truck
  • a little girl sitting in the driver's seat of a fire truck
  • a fireman standing next to a woman and a child
  • a woman is putting a child's hair in a chair
  • a group of people standing around a table under a tent
  • a police officer talking to a group of people
  • a group of people standing around a table with food on it

Marathon

By Alex Rickert

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When things go wrong, these are the guys and gals you call.

On Aug. 5, National Night Out filled the sheriff’s office aviation hangar in Marathon with helicopters, cars, boats and all manner of law enforcement tech as local first responders gave kids an up-close look at the agencies – and more importantly, the faces – that keep their communities safe. 

Celebrated each year, the event is a campaign that promotes neighborhood camaraderie by building relationships between civilians and first responders. Events up and down the island chain, organized by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, put kids “behind the wheel” of heavy-duty machinery, from Trauma Star helos to Coast Guard vessels, police motorcycles and more.

Photos by NATALIE DANKO/Keys Weekly

  • a man holding a little girl on his shoulders
  • a man and a woman standing in front of a helicopter
  • a police officer standing next to a woman
  • a man sitting in the driver's seat of a car
  • a woman holding a snake in front of a group of people
  • a group of police officers standing in front of a cake
  • a group of people standing on top of a boat
  • a group of people standing on the side of a boat
  • a man and a child sitting on a motorcycle
  • a couple of kids standing in the doorway of a helicopter
  • a woman and a child are sitting in the door of a helicopter
  • a group of people standing around a table

Upper Keys

From fire trucks and sheriff’s patrol cars to marine vessels and motorcycles, first responders  descended upon two Upper Keys parks for a friendly meet-up with community members, young and old, for National Night Out on Aug. 5. 

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Organized by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the events at Key Largo Park and Founders Park in Islamorada gave kids a chance to peek inside law enforcement and fire rescue vehicles while meeting with deputies and troopers, Coast Guard members and National Park staff, Civil Air Patrol and the sheriff’s dive team, among other agencies and groups. 

At Founders Park, community members had the chance to check out a Trauma Star chopper. At Key Largo Park, kids had the chance to visit Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation officers while getting an up-close look at a baby gator. Islamorada Fire Rescue and deputies dished out barbecue food at Founders Park, while the Key Largo Rotary Club cooked on the grill for the community at Key Largo Park. Booths had trinkets, bracelets and other little toys for the kids to grab as they went by. 

National Night Out brings the community together to help make Keys neighborhoods cleaner and safer. 

Photos by JIM McCARTHY/Keys Weekly, CINDY SMITH/Contributed, and DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly 

  • a group of police officers standing under a tent
  • a group of men standing around a table with laptops
  • three police officers standing in front of a fire truck
  • three police officers are posing for a picture
  • a group of people standing in the back of a van
  • a white and blue helicopter sitting on top of a lush green field
  • a group of people getting out of an airplane
  • a couple of women standing under a tent
  • a couple of women standing next to each other under a tent
  • a group of people standing around a tree
  • a woman feeding a child a piece of food
  • a group of people standing around a food truck
  • a group of people standing around a table filled with candy
  • a fire truck with a man dressed as a dinosaur
  • a group of people standing around a table with frisbees

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