Community policing is often about relationships.

That's a big reason why the annual National Night Out on Aug. 5 is important, Pembroke Police Chief Bill Collins said.

"The main thing is we want our community to be a part of the police department," Colllins said. "And we want our police department to be a part of the community."

To that end, Pembroke police will be joining other area public safety personnel and community groups during the Nite Out, which will run from 7-10 p.m. Booths, food, vendors and a community walk are among the events slated for the night.

"It is a unique crime and drug prevention event," PPD Detective Daniel Woodcock said. "It's for the community as a whole, to reduce crime and drugs and get more people involved with the neighborhood watch programs. We want to create more of a police-community partnership."

This is Woodcock's first year helping to organize the event - Pembroke City Planner Wynn Carnery is also involved - and the city's second year putting one on.

Collins estimated as many as 200 people attended the Nite Out last year.

"I think ours was one of the larger ones around," he said. "We were very proud of the turnout."

National Night Out is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

Last year, more than 35 million people in 10,000 communities from the U.S., Canada and military bases participated, according to the National Night Out website.

It is the 25th anniversary of National Night Out.