Palm Springs celebrates National Night Out

It’s an annual event designed to help create better police-community relations.

The Palm Springs Police Department hosted the event tonight at the Palm Springs Stadium.

“The goal is to interact with the community,” said Araiza of the police department.

“It makes a huge difference,” Araiza said of this event. “We get on a first-name basis with the people inner community and we humanize the profession.”

This year’s event comes almost two years after two Palm Springs police officers, Lesley Zerebny and Jose ‘Gil’ Vega, were shot and killed in the line of duty.

Araiza believes the National Night Out event could help increase officer safety by building better relationships with the public.

“It impacts our community because it makes our law enforcement more approachable,” he said.