CANCELED
Beaverdale National Night Out

"We have made the decision to cancel our annual “National Night Out” event scheduled for October 6th. While this event is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW) and they are moving forward Nationally, the DMPD wants to be careful not to put our community at further exposure risks. We held off as long as we could hoping things would improve but a decision had to be made because of all the planning, cost and preparation you, the neighborhood associations incur. While we always look forward to getting out in the community and getting to know our neighbors, we have to be mindful of the age group most vulnerable. Many of our neighborhood leaders are in the high risk age group. I’m in that group! So, we’ll take a pass this year with expectations of getting back to our regular schedule in 2021. NNO is always the first Tuesday of August which would make it Tuesday, August 3rd, 2021.

In spite of the world around us, the DMPD has continued to move forward, serving the community. While we haven’t had the large outreach opportunities normally scheduled through the summer months, many of our officers have been doing things behind the scenes in order to continue building relationships and trust. Officers have taken on personal outreach opportunities wherever they saw a need. Most of the stories will never be shared because officers are not looking for praise. They do what they do because it’s the right thing to do. As simple as that!

This week, several of us will be volunteering a day to help Parks & Recreation build a playground in a Southside park next to Weeks Middle School. This is much like the project we helped with last year at Evelyn K. Davis Park. In addition, we are working on plans to assist the Variety Club, unpacking and putting new bicycles together so children without a bike, can have one to call their own. I know of officers who have checked on elderly folks in their neighborhoods. Some seniors are living alone with no families in the Des Moines area. A quick visit from the front porch goes a long ways, just to let them know we are thinking of them and the officer can be assured their needs are being met.

So as I previously mentioned, your police department is, and will continue serving you the best we can. If there is anything you need from us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your neighborhood officer or me.

Again, thanks for all you do and please stay safe during this season of uncertainty."

Larry Davey

Lieutenant

Operations Division

Patrol Services Bureau

Neighborhood Based Service Delivery