EAGAN, Minn. — At the Eagan Police Department Tuesday, Officer Aaron Machtemes was working in "command central." That's what he called the room in the department which was filled with 206 giveaway bags put together that morning.
"We actually have a lot of cool stuff," he said while looking through one.
That "cool stuff" included pop sockets for phones, glow sticks, and Twins tickets.
"People go crazy over the Twins tickets," said Machtemes.
Eagan officers will be giving a bag to each of the city's registered National Night Out parties. They have 206 registered parties, which they say is about 11,000 people.
"We just had to finally cap [registration], but we were still getting calls with people wanting to have a party and have the police show up," Machtemes said.
National Night Out is intended to prevent crime and build relationships between police and the communities they patrol.
"A lot of people are scared to call 911, even when they should," Machtemes said, "Having that face-to-face contact with an officer, it almost gives them permission to report suspicious behavior, because they go 'I know that officer. He was a nice guy. I can call 911.'"
St. Paul has a list of more than 400 events happening Tuesday night.
In Minneapolis, they have 1,556.
The Orono Police Department had more than their officers visiting people on National Night Out. The Department's community service dog, Xerxes, made the rounds with his handler Tuesday evening.
The department has had the dog for over a year. They say Xerxes helps them connect with the community and put people at ease during high-stress calls.
