DATE: Wednesday, August 6, 1997             TAG: 9708060469

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

SUFFOLK'S NIGHT OUT GETS AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION

For all of the hot dogs, fried catfish, hush puppies and chants of ``We're taking our neighborhood back,'' you might have never guessed it was the city's first time.

The Suffolk Police Department held its inaugural Night Out against crime Tuesday, an event that has been a nationwide crime prevention rally for 14 years.

``This is an effort to show our human element,'' Suffolk police Chief Jimmy L. Wilson told a crowd of more than 100 at the Cypress Manor Park, ``to show that we can go out and enjoy ourselves right in our own community.''

Residents were encouraged to turn on their outside lights, lock their doors and join neighbors in a community walk-around. Special programs were held by community police officers to emphasize crime and drug prevention.

Anti-crime rallies were not limited to Suffolk. Neighborhoods across Hampton Roads showed their support and spirit for local crime prevention programs.

In Portsmouth, two motorcades with more than 100 cars toured neighborhoods in a show of solidarity against crime. The city was nationally recognized last year for its Night Out efforts.

In Chesapeake's Homecrest Mobile Home Park, residents celebrated the night with an ice cream scream. They hoped that bonding over ice cream now would mean a safer community when the children get older.

In their inaugural Night Out tour through several of Suffolk's downtown neighborhoods, the local police were met mostly with enthusiasm.

Residents at Cypress Park in the Hollywood section munched on fried catfish, hush puppies and hot dogs and chatted with their neighbors.

Not all efforts went as smoothly as planned.

At about 6:45 p.m., a dozen police officers and two television camera crews arrived at the party and stiffly approached the crowd. Four white officers tried to dance the Macarena with the mostly black crowd, and no one joined in.

But the DJ switched to disco - ``Get down, get funky, get loose'' - and the police officers and two dozen neighborhood revelers did just what the song ordered.

``Everybody likes to dance,'' said 14-year-old Adena Knight, who boogied alongside some of the men and women in blue for the first time.

At Lake Kennedy Park, organizers said their picnic grounds were a favored spot for drug dealers and users. About 80 residents reclaimed the picnic area for the night.

``We should have been doing this a long time ago,'' said Lake Kennedy civic league member Eddie Hicks.

At Burnette's Mill, organizers talked about a lack of time to prepare.

Just one police officer showed up around 7:30 p.m. The turnout in the 400-home subdivision included about a half-dozen adults and a sprinkling of children.

In Chorey Park Apartments, more than 75 people gathered to eat and socialize. Residents of the development, which houses Suffolk's elderly and handicapped, sang ``We Shall Overcome.'' MEMO: Staff writers Janie Bryant, Katrice Franklin, Lewis Krauskopf and

Linda McNatt contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

Suffolk's first observance of National Night Out, an anti-crime

celebration, presented an opportunity for

5-year-old Blake Sawyer to sit on one of the three Cannondale bikes

given to the Suffolk Police Department by the Suffolk Housing

Authority. Officer William Phippins finds that Blake's legs are a

bit too short just now to reach the pedals.

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