National Night Out at Smith Haven Mall a place for cops, community to 'meet and mingle'

Spirits were high and music was pumping Tuesday at Smith Haven Mall for the annual National Night Out hosted by Suffolk County's Fourth Police Precinct.

Shoppers of all ages, but especially those with young children, filtered through the maze of booths at the center of the Lake Grove mall, joined by  Suffolk police, the district attorney’s office, members of the military and representatives from the mall and several stores.

"The whole purpose of this is to show people: 'Come on out, Suffolk’s safe,' " Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said at the event.

All seven Suffolk police precincts have hosted events to celebrate the national community-building campaign since 2015, said acting Suffolk Police Commissioner Robert Waring.

"Each precinct has their own separate National Night Out," Waring said. "It’s a great opportunity for us to meet and mingle with the community."

Since the event was first introduced nationwide in 1984, 133 communities across New York State have joined, according to the campaign’s website.

Tuesday's event inside Smith Haven Mall was the only one to continue as planned after the other six were rained out. Suffolk police said the precincts plan to reschedule their celebrations.

National Night Out events are meant to demonstrate the community coming together to take "the night back from violence," said District Attorney Ray Tierney, adding that this particular gathering held special meaning for him as someone who grew up visiting Smith Haven Mall.

Shoppers at the mall, some of whom did not know ahead of time that the police would be hosting the equivalent of a block party at the center of the building, welcomed the change of pace.

"This is fantastic for families," said Maria Fitzpatrick, 53, of Commack, who was with her son and his girlfriend visiting from college.

Fitzpatrick highlighted the value of the booths focused on health care and safety, especially a table dedicated to teaching parents the right way to set up car seats for infants.

Marisa Carroll, 32, of Centereach, pushing a stroller carrying her 2½-year-old daughter while she clutched the toddler's souvenir plastic fire hat, said: "It’s really nice that our community can come together and do this."

Other children were decked out in face paint, carried balloon animals and ate bags of free popcorn while a DJ blasted music, running iterations of freeze dance and the Macarena, a popular '90s line dance.

The music, the food, cops intermingling with shoppers — all help people see police as more approachable, said Assistant Deputy Commissioner Dara Martin.

"It’s great seeing the community, and maybe they won’t think of police as such a distant entity," she said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.