National Night Out Not Held Tuesday in Bernards Township

National Night Out, a nationwide event that calls for local police departments to get to better know their communities and also urges residents to take a stand against crime, won't be held in Bernards Township on Tuesday evening, the designated evening for the event in participating towns throughout the U.S.

National Night Out had been held last August at Ridge High School, and the previous year at Dewy Meadow Shopping Center.

In Basking Ridge, it was discontinued in 2008 as a result of municipal budget tightening, and was revived the last few years through the efforts of the Bernards Township PBA and the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce.

In response to an email question, Bernards Police Chief Brian Bobowicz said the decision not to participate in this year's National Night Out event was made in conjunction with the PBA leadership based primarily in fiscal responsibility guided by the municipality's record of the same.

"Over the past decade we have explored and tried differing options related to financial sponsorship and partnering of which we are greatly appreciative. As budgeting constraints and personnel resources have shrunk while being faced with increased demands upon the police department and other township departments, a decision was made to direct our community-based celebration efforts to the township-wide shared event of Charter Day," Bobowicz wrote. Charter Day, attended by thousands of residents each May, is an event "during which we can interact with our residents alongside our fellow municipal and emergency services providers," Bobowicz said.

Al LiCata, executive director of the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce, previously said that the revived National Night Out — which included fingerprinting and information booths along with food, demonstrators and other vendors — had been bringing out hundreds of residents on a summer evening.

"The PBA sponsored National Night Out, [and] the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce supported it," LiCata said in an email on Tuesday. "The chamber and our members over the years of the event, supplied food, games, prizes, volunteers, child ID, set up, clean up and more," LiCata said.

"We were disappointed the township took the event out of the budget," LiCata added. "It was a well attended event, as residents looked forward to it each year."

The communities of Bernardsville and Bedminster also are not holding National Night Out events. Bernardsville most recently had held a National Night Out at the Bernardsville pool complex last summer, in August 2012.