Porch Lights to Glow Tonight for National, Local Crime Prevention Campaign

Porch lights should be aglow throughout the city tonight as residents and business owners embrace the crime prevention awareness campaign, National Night Out.

encourage those in the city to join more than 15,000 communities in turning on their porch lights to participate in the campaign tonight.

Here's what the North Canton Police Department had to say about the national and local crime prevention event:

The North Canton Police Department partnered with the National Association of Town Watch (NATW) throughout 2011 and 2012. The organization has announced that the “29th Annual National Night Out (NNO) program will culminate tonight with the National Night Out porch light event.

The yearlong community building campaign is designed to: 

• Heighten crime prevention awareness
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime programs
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back

The North Canton Police Department has coordinated or participated in a variety of neighborhood, school, campus and community crime prevention programs contributing to building one's knowledge, thus increasing one's power over threats to personal safety.

The police department continuously strives to provide information about protecting its citizenry, visitors, homes and businesses against burglary, theft, shoplifting, taking precautions against identity theft, use and misuse of legal and illegal drugs or prescription medicines, telemarketing scams, con games and scams, preventing child identity theft, how to react when away from home to reduce the likelihood of mugging or rape, how to make your home safer for senior citizens, crime victimization, how to implement fire-prevention techniques and much more. It is the police department’s effort to help prevent crime by reducing the opportunity for it.

We in law enforcement strive to improve our methods of crime prevention. Crime prevention involves education followed by implementation. Your safety is your responsibility. Working together, we rely upon the public to be alert to possible crime, to report crimes in progress and to take prudent steps to protect yourself and your family. Understandably, law enforcement bears the primary responsibility for crime prevention and interdiction but our community can do its part as well.