Traci White Photo

National Night Out is an evening in the late summer across America for police officers and fire fighters to interact with children, particularly in economically challenged areas, in a positive context. The idea is to show kids that emergency personnel do care about them, and to teach them about safety. And, in some cases, just give them stickers and cake. The first stop on the tour around town was Harris Gardens, and while the teens mainly just played it cool, treating it like any other night in the neighborhood, the younger kids got really, really excited. 

Teens who live in the Harris Gardens neighborhood hang out on the stairs of one of the apartment buildings on National Night Out.

Young teens show off for the camera inside a bouncy castle, inflated for about 10 minutes, in front of an apartment.