Daisy Sargent (facing camera) and other Boston traffic enforcement officers took part in Boston’s annual National Night Out event at Franklin Park Zoo last night.
(Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)
Free night at the zoo lets city celebrate crime watch efforts
Daisy Sargent (facing camera) and other Boston traffic enforcement officers took part in Boston’s annual National Night Out event at Franklin Park Zoo last night.
(Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)
Thousands of people flooded Franklin Park Zoo last evening for Boston’s annual Wild About National Night Out, a free community outreach program designed to encourage community policing programs in the city’s neighborhoods.
The event, which is part of a national campaign that focuses on police-community collaboration and neighborhood crime watch programs, was expected to draw about 10,000 people, said Carolyn MacNeil, director of the Boston Police Neighborhood Watch Unit, who organized the event.
MacNeil said Boston has participated in the National Night Out campaign for 26 years, with smaller neighborhood events, but this is the third year a larger event has been held at the zoo.
“This really allows us to involve everybody,’’ she said.
Donna Haskins of Roxbury, who attended the event with some of her extended family, said she lost her nephew to street violence. The event, she said, helps people who have lost loved ones to crime to gather together.
“It’s something positive,’’ said Haskins. “Being reminded about the positives is a good thing.’’
Roxbury resident Lorene Thomas said she decided to attend the event with her granddaughter after she read about it in the paper. Thomas said she found the event encouraging.
“They don’t have many parks in Massachusetts or anything for these kids to do except get in trouble, so if they could do this more often, I think it would be appreciated,’’ she said.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis attended the event and said it was a way to thank crime watch programs.
“Every neighborhood with a crime watch has seen a turnaround,’’ he said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino thanked the crowd and event supporters along with Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, who also stressed her efforts to overhaul the Criminal Offender Record Information system.
“As long as you have jails, there will be people in them,’’ Cabral said. “But the issue is to want to give people a better opportunity.’’
Councilor Charles Yancey made an impromptu speech and called on community members to support the police commissioner and Menino for taking action against police Officer Justin Barrett. Now suspended after he sent a racially charged e-mail to a Boston Globe columnist, Barrett has sued the department to fight efforts to fire him.
“I think you should applaud the police commissioner and the mayor for sending a clear image that racism and injustice will not be tolerated in the Boston Police Department,’’ Yancey said. “They’re doing the right thing, and they need support from the city of Boston.’’
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