Police host National Night Out kickoff party

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Police Department hosted its 21st annual National Night Out kickoff party downtown on Saturday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.
This year’s event had plenty for the whole family to enjoy. Food included hot dogs, chips, cookies, drinks, ice cream, and more. They had activities for both children and adults, door prizes were given away throughout the night, and various booths offered information and goodies. Some events/activities were offered free of charge while everything else was priced at 25 cents.
National Night Out is a community-building campaign that helps foster positive relationships between the police and the community as well as camaraderie amongst neighborhoods. The event is also held to raise crime and drug prevention awareness. 
Thousands of communities across America take part in their own National Night Out. 
Cove’s kickoff event allowed members of the community to come out for a night of fun, while also allowing them to visit various booths manned by local anti-crime groups, groups supporting our first responders, clubs, and more, allowing them to learn first hand about these groups and what they do for our community.
Sgt. Kevin Miller, public information officer for the CCPD, said that last year’s event saw over 2,000 participants and he expects that a similar number attended this year’s event. 
“This is a community-building event where you can meet your neighbors and police officers. It just brings the community together…We have a great partnership with our community, but we want it to be even stronger,” said Miller. “It’s humbling to see everyone out here having a good time.”
Miller was grateful to the various groups who donated time, items for the raffle, food, and more for the event. He was especially thankful to Robison Ranch and Camp Cowboy who donated ice cream for the event at the last minute, after an original donor failed to show up.
Scott Robison, owner of Robison Ranch, provided approximately 300 ice cream cups for the event, which was everything left in the store he went to. 
Camp Cowboy is a 90-day horse camp held at Robison Ranch which he describes as a horse 101 class that they offer free of charge to veterans, first responders, and their spouses.
“I went and bought as many [ice cream cups] as I could,” said Robison. He said that Miller is a friend of his, and he was more than happy to help out. “This is my community. This is my town. I’ll do what I can to help out.”
Bob Oakes, past president for the Copperas Cove Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association, was one of many on hand at the event that provided free food. 
The CCCPAAA provided hot dogs and chips for one ticket each, with tickets costing 25 cents each. 
Oakes said that he likes how the event brings people together and added that it’s good for people to see that police officers are normal people that are here to protect them, not the bad guys.
Mark Macorol and Kylie Hayhurst, two cadets in the Law Enforcement Explorer Program, talked about how they were happy to volunteer and help the officers who put the event together. Members of the Explorer Program helped supervise activities such as the kids playing in the bounce houses and mad sure that everyone stayed safe.
“I think it’s important to get the community together to show that we’re all here for each other, and we can get together as a community to celebrate and we can advertise things like BACA [Bikers Against Child Abuse] which is very important. We can advertise things like Crime Stoppers and let kids have fun in the bounce houses. There’s food that’s 25 cents. It’s fun,” said Hayhurst, adding that it also helps build the bond between the community and police officers which is very important.
“It’s so everyone can have fun. It’s not to sell things. It’s to have fun,” added Macorol.
With hundreds participating, there were still plenty of goodies to go around. Some of the booths offered goody bags and many others had wheels which people could spin to win small prizes. In general, everyone appeared to be having a great time, dancing or singing to the music, playing games, or eating food.
“This is wonderful,” said Diane Hilgenberg-Logan who brought her grandkids, Brody Hilgenberg (9) and Jace Hilgenberg (7) to the event. “I’ve gotten to enjoy all the wonderful activities and see all the nice people that have come out to participate.
She said that she’s so grateful to the community and to all the generous people who contributed to making the event possible.
“I liked that you can get cool prizes and that they’re giving away stuff,” said Brody Hilgenberg.
“It’s cool,” said his brother, Jace Hilgenberg. “I got a frisbee and a club.”
The National Night Out continues tonight with various neighborhoods hosting block parties from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.