August 08, 2010|By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun
The amplified music cranked up in the parking lot of the Whiskey Bottom Shopping Center in North Laurel at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday with a loud rendition of the theme from the "Cops" television show, which was very appropriate for the largest of Howard County's 30 National Night Out gatherings.
Howard County police cars blocked off the center of the large parking lot. The county's huge mobile command center truck, antennae fully extended, sat behind a 1957 Chevy outfitted to resemble a county police car from that bygone era. Blue-shirted county police officers, bolstered by Maryland State Police, county sheriff's deputies and a man costumed as McGruff the Crime Dog, were everywhere.
The goal of the 27-year-old National Night Out event is to promote community awareness and boost relations with the police to prevent crime, said county Police Chief William McMahon.
"It sends a message that the community is engaged with the government, and it's an opportunity to share information and collect information" from residents, from minor annoyances like unfilled potholes to serious ones involving crime.
Officer Josh Mouton, 33, the county Police Department's new community resource officer for North Laurel, brought his family and their huge black and white Great Dane, Jim. Mouton dashed about meeting neighborhood residents and making final preparations. He works from the county's community police office, located in the shopping center.
There were two search-and-rescue horses: a paint horse named Awesome and a brown gelding named Boxer. The horses' owners, Joyce Cowfer and Katy Hart, are members of the Trotsar Mounted Search and Rescue team that patrols Savage Park each weekend. The event also featured martial arts demonstrations by the center's Tae Kwan Do storefront school, free hamburgers and snacks, Fire Chief William Goddard and politicians galore.
The only thing missing was the police helicopter, which was sitting on the grass next to the Dasher Green swimming pool in Owen Brown for one of the other events.
"It's very helpful," said Danielle Deloatch, 37, who has lived in the nearby Seasons apartment complex for 19 years. "It's nice to see the community get together."
That's the heart of Mouton's new job: spending time in the community and getting to know people like Jim Johnson, 17, who, wearing an oversized red baseball cap over a white T-shirt, hung out at the fringes of the event with a group of about eight other teenagers who live in the apartments nearby.
"It's OK," he said about the party.
A 14-year-old named Based God said, "I'm a little paranoid because all of them got guns."
Mouton, an energetic, friendly three-year veteran of the county force, said he's patrolled the North Laurel area and felt he could offer more by applying for the community officer job so he could spend time getting to know people and places instead of running from call to call.
"I like working that area, getting to know people really well," he said. "I'm kind of a face-to-face guy."
Howard also has community police offices in Wilde Lake, Oakland Mills, Harper's Choice and Long Reach in Columbia. Owen Brown has a community officer assigned, but the county has no neighborhood office for her yet.
In North Laurel, County Executive Ken Ulman told the crowd that nothing is more important than public safety.
"Nothing else matters unless we feel safe to come out of our houses," he said, which is exactly what all the annual events promote.
McMahon said later that crime, from murder to robbery to car theft, is on a downward trend in Howard, though burglaries are up so far this year.
larry.carson@baltsun.com
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