Slideshow: National Night Out San Carlos-Style

What started out a few years ago as a low-key gathering of a smattering of White Oaks neighbors and a police cruiser or two, has evolved into one of San Carlos' most lively community events.

National Night Out succeeded Tuesday night in bringing together police and fire officials, councilmembers, city staff, residents and even the SWAT team to promote the message of community safety at it's most basic level---looking out for one another.

San Carlos City Councilmember Ron Collins stopped by the event and were impressed with the turnout.

"This is a wonderful event, and it would be great to see more of these around town," said Collins.

And with each passing year, White Oaks residents are bumping up the NNO festivities---in addition to an ice cream social, the White Oaks home of host family, Laila Adle and Arturo Amaya, also became a hub for neighbors to pick up community safety, and the emergency preparedness info, local Girl Scouts held a book drive to benefit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Valley Medical Center.

Click on the slideshow above for some NNO highlights. Did you take some photos you'd like to share? Email them to the editor at joan.dentler@patch.com and we'll add them to the slideshow.
Host Laila Adle said she was inspired to jumpstart a National Night Out event at her home after taking a CERT training class several years ago. "As two working parents, we don't always get out to meet our neighbors," said Adle.

"My mom is the neighborhood watch captain, so thought this would be a good opportunity to meet my neighbors and encourage people to learn more about safety and earthquake preparedness and for meeting the public safety officials who look out for us," added Adle.

San Carlos police chief, Capt. Greg Rothaus affirmed Adle's message about the importance of getting to know your neighbors.

"The bad guys are afraid to come into neighborhoods where they know people are looking out for each other," said Rothaus.

"This is the third year the White Oaks neighbors have hosted a National Night Out party. The neighbors are very organized and are very much into crime prevention," the chief added.

Rothaus also emphasized the importance of emergency preparedness at events such as this.

"An earthquake is one of our biggest public safety threats. It starts with all of us being prepared individually--chances are the fire department will be busy in a big emergency, so if you know your neighbors you can watch out for one another," he added.