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Introduction National Night Out—August 1999 Tuesday, August 3, 1999, was a typical hot August evening in Chicago. The air was heavy with the heat and humidity of the day, and in the Beltway neighborhood, many residents went about their business as usual. Some mowed, watered, or preened their precious patches of lawn, while others lolled about their porches listening to the White Sox game on the radio; children played in the side streets and parks, while some dog owners , still in their work clothes, walked their pets after returning from their day jobs. At the Beltway Public Library, the usual early-evening patrons borrowed books and videos, read the day’s newspapers, or surfed the World Wide Web on one of the library’s public access terminals. Just after 6:30, the normal routine of the library is augmented by the arrival of a few dozen local residents. They do not arrive together but trickle in at a steady pace, shunning the books and periodicals stacked on the shelves to go into the main meeting room of the library. It is National Night Out, and the local neighborhood watch group, the Beltway Night Patrol, is marking the occasion by gathering its members and any other interested residents to march from the library to the Hastings Elementary School.1 There are two banners that will be carried at the head of the march. One bears the legend “Beltway Night Patrol: Your Neighborhood Watch Group,” and the other is the generic National Night Out plastic banner, replete with the corporate logos of local sponsors. There are other, smaller cardboard National Night Out posters stapled together and mounted on wooden poles for participants to carry, and they are distributed to anyone who wants to display one. Over on a side table, there is a cake to mark the occasion; it is inscribed with the legend “Welcome to National Night Out from Beltway Night Patrol.” The cake is covered to keep it fresh because it will serve as a treat after the march. As the members of the Night Patrol arrive, they are warmly greeted by Bernadette Boniek, the president of the BNP; by Lydia Donovan, the head 1 1 librarian and Night Patrol officer; and by Kitty Kelly, the team leader for the group. Both Bernadette and Kitty work full-time, and they have come more or less directly from work to the library. For Lydia, the library is her workplace, and she delights in combining work with civic activism. Bernadette, Lydia, and Kitty know everyone who comes into the room, and the atmosphere is one of uncontrived joviality. Bernadette and the other core members of the BNP are excited because there is a rumor that the new commander of the local police district will be attending “their march.” The local police district covers a large area, and there are several competing marches elsewhere. If the new commander does decide to march in Beltway, it will be a feather in the cap of the BNP, a fact not lost on any of the assembled members. The local beat officers, Charles Simpson and John Straka, pull up to the library in their cruiser at about five minutes to seven, and they con- firm to the BNP that Commander Riordan will be joining them for the march. The mood is now one of barely suppressed excitement, and Bernadette and her husband, George, tell people to gather outside the library in the parking lot for the march. The BNP members have now been joined by three people who represent the local Civic League, and by Father Rooney, the pastor of the local St. Martin’s parish. There are about twenty Beltway citizens present; most are active members of the BNP, while others are there because they have been recruited specifically for the National Night Out march. People are gathered in small clusters of two and three in the parking lot, and they chat as they await the word to march. Commander Riordan pulls up to the parking lot a little before seven o’clock. He is an imposing figure, standing over six feet tall. The police officers present, now numbering five, are careful and courtly with their new boss. Bernadette and George usher people around one of the police cruisers for a photograph before they set off, and people pose with their placards and banners. Pictures taken, the BNP march for National Night Out begins. Scarcely half a mile separates the...

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