NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCBD) - All over Charleston communities gathered Saturday with local police and vendors. They shared opportunities that people might not know is offered through their neighborhoods at the event known as National Night Out.

In downtown they had brochures of information from furthering education to health care and got to meet with local law enforcement.

“The Charleston Police Department is out here today to bring awareness to the community that if you see crime, report it, don't be afraid because when you report that crime in your area, you make your area safer,” block party captain Loquita Jenkins said.

Police said the National Night Out movement proved to build a trust between them and the community in the past.

“This has been going on for four or five years in a row and it gets us meeting and speaking to people and then they will call us and leave messages in our office a couple days later about something they know about and we'll route them to the correct detectives,” Sergeant Shelor said.

The official National Night Out is Tuesday August 2nd. Officers said they do events on weekends to have a better turnout but a block party can consist of anything like a cookout or crime watch meeting, no event is too big or too small.

If you want a police officer to visit your local meeting, you can call them at (843)769-7407.

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