Wilmington Police Department Hosted 4th Annual National Night Out Event

On August 1, 2017 the Wilmington Police Department hosted its 4^th annual National Night Out event.

Held nationally on the first Tuesday in August, National Night Out is a community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live. National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Wilmington’s event was held at Rotary Park across from the Public Safety Building from 6-8 pm.

According to Chief Michael Begonis, the Wilmington Police Department began hosting this event after receiving a $100,000 grant from the Woburn based Cummings Foundation in 2014. “This has become an event that both the community of Wilmington and our Officers look forward to every year,” stated Chief Begonis. “The event gives residents a chance to meet our Officers and talk to them face to face. They get to learn about the job that we do and we get to hear about the concerns that they have in their neighborhoods.”

The Department was awarded a second grant from Cummings Foundation last month to help fund community and safety initiatives.

This year’s event included emergency vehicle and equipment displays, demonstrations, bouncy houses, face painting, dunk-a-cop, food, and much more. The event concluded at 8 pm with a showing of Disney’s “Zootopia”. “This was our best event yet,” stated event coordinator, Officer Matt Stavro. “We had several federal law enforcement agencies bringing vehicles, equipment, and information about how they work with our Department and the community of Wilmington. The Irish American Police Officers Association Pipes & Drums performed and we were excited to once again have a Massachusetts National Guard Black Hawk helicopter landing at the event.”

The Department is extremely thankful from the support from several businesses in the community. Red Heat Tavern was back again to provide food to the attendees free of charge. The Wilmington and Woburn Target stores supplied water and they raffled off two bicycles for children.

Local business, Blink, joined this year’s event as well. Blink is a subscription free, completely wireless home security camera that sends motion-activated alerts and HD video to the home owner’s smartphone. Blink raffled off 25 two camera video home security systems at the event. This was an opportunity for residents to learn about some relatively inexpensive measures to protect their home and a chance to go home with a free security system!

Participating Agencies