<h2 style="text-align: center;">Beaufort Police Department hosts annual event</h2>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Story and photo by Bob Sofaly</h4>
[caption id="attachment_37870" align="alignright" width="389"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RES2852.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-37870" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RES2852-819x1024.jpg" alt="" width="389" height="697"></a> Left: PT-3 Eric Hayes, left, of the Beaufort Police Department, gets a little help from Booker Brunson, 5, while parking cars at the annual Community Night Out. Booker said he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.[/caption]

Hundreds of people took part the annual Community Night Out to visit with police, firefighters and officers from the Department of Natural Resources for an evening of fellowship and goodwill at the playground along Washington Street on Tuesday, Oct. 2, according the Chief Matt Clancy of the Beaufort Police Department.

“It’s an opportunity for the community to get together and meet the officers in an informal setting instead of seeing them in a working situation,” Beaufort Police Chief Matt Clancy said. “The better the community gets to know the officers and vice versa, the better off all involved are.”

Lt. Charles Squires says the department’s ongoing Community Oriented Policing efforts have paid off. “Events like this help the relationship with the community,” Squires said. “We have events like this throughout the year. It helps maintain trust between the police officers and the community. I think it’s definitely paid off. We don’t have the problems the other areas have because of things like this… These things help keep the community healthy and that helps keep the bad guys away.”