Columbia Police Chief Tandy Carter announced December 9 during a City Council meeting the City of Columbia was once again a winner for this year’s National Night Out (NNO) Award. The City was presented a plaque from the National Association of Town Watch (a non–profit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of organized, law enforcement– affilated crime and drug prevention programs).

The City of Columbia placed 22nd in category #2 (100,000–299,000 population) out of 197 participants and the only entity from South Carolina to win a National Night Out Award in any of the ten categories.

Chief Carter said, “This award is not just about what the City of Columbia did, but what the community does every day; neighbors joining together to keep crime out of their backyard."

Tige Watts, past president of Columbia Council of Neighborhoods and current VP of NUSA (a national non–profit organization committed to building and strengthening neighborhood organizations), said, “Neighborhood safety is not just law enforcement’s job, it’s our job too, and it is important that we stand together to keep our communities safe.”

This year over 36.7 million people and 14,000 communities participated in NNO.

The City of Columbia would like to thank the following sponsors for their participation during the 2009 National Night Out: Target, National Association of Town Watch, Columbia Council of Neighborhoods, Domino’s, Jimmy John’s, Palmetto Candy Company, Krispy Kreme, and Baskin Robbins.

For more information about National Night Out, visit their website at www.nationalnightout.org /nno.