Several Iowa communities hosted National Night Out events Tuesday as a way for law enforcement to connect with their local community.
Rockwell was one of more than 50 cities in Iowa to host a National Night Out event and Brian Koob, who previously worked with the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department and serves on the Rockwell City Council, says the event is beneficial for both law enforcement and the community.
“It’s extremely important to have open connections with the community in regards to law enforcement. It helps us build interaction and it helps us to build connections within the community. It also helps them to build trust in us. With law enforcement, it’s a lot of times people don’t see a law enforcement officer until they’re in need of a law enforcement officer. I think it’s always important to be up front and out in the public so that way they can gain their trust prior to actually having to utilize us for one of their needs. And it helps them be more confident when we do show up to a call that they already know confidence in us and it just helps kind of break down a little barrier that possibly could be there.”
Representatives from the Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Worth County Sheriff’s Department, CG Public Health and Rockwell Fire Department were on site to interact with the community. Dave Hepperly, who has worked with the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department for 22 years, says the event is another way for law enforcement to build trust with the public.
“Even though Rockwell is a smaller community, it’s important for all the public to realize that we are all partners in making communities go. We have our part, but we want to make sure that everybody is comfortable with what we do, not afraid to engage us, and it’s great for us to be able to visit with people and hopefully people that we haven’t had a chance to meet before and make acquaintances that way. It’s just an all-around win situation for everybody involved.”
Other locations that held National Night Out events Tuesday included Hampton, Belmond and Mason City in the broadcast area.
