What is known as “National Night Out” all across the country is becoming a pretty big deal. And it is always a big deal in the Tri-Town because, as a community of not just one but three police, fire, and emergency response management departments, a plethora of patrol cars, ladder trucks, ambulances, cool four-by-four vehicles, and an army of emergency responders, demonstrating them is immense.

The front lawn of Old Rochester Regional on Tuesday night, August 1, was vastly lined with every kind of emergency vehicle with beeps and bleeps and blinking lights of all volumes and patterns – and even more children to delight in them.

The National Night Out began over 30 years ago as an annual community-building campaign to help foster community-police partnerships and a friendly camaraderie amongst law enforcement personnel and community members.

Literally millions of Americans across the country in thousands of communities nationwide host a local National Night Out, and the Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester communities have been doing it for at least the last four years, said Rochester Police Sergeant Robert Small.

Every year, the event seems to grow by at least one other vehicle, or by one additional booth promoting community safety.

This year, Rochester Police Officer Robert Nordahl helped prepare a booth on child seat safety, which included demonstrations and installation assistance.

The Healthy Tri-Town Coalition also set up a table to keep the public aware of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and displayed some new advances in safety such as the medical storage safe box for medications in the home.

On the far west end of the lawn, Mattapoisett Firefighter Joseph Tripp was helping kids use the fire hose to hit a target, pausing to help the kiddos straighten their nifty new plastic firefighter hats, given out courtesy of the local fire departments.

The sounds of beep beep and blip blip, along with swirling lights of blue and red made for some cool clamor as the kids were allowed to climb into the vehicles and experience some vivid make-believe with all the bells and whistles at their fingertips.

Sergeant Small sees the importance of hosting such an event year after year. It’s all about creating a space where the community and law enforcers – as well as fire and EMT workers – can meet and just enjoy interacting in a casual setting.

“It’s definitely an opportunity for the community to get to speak to us without any urgency,” said Small, which is usually the premise of a conversation with police. “It’s a chance to come out and meet us in a quiet environment where all the equipment is out to look at. We get to say ‘Hi’ to people in a more neutral environment,” Small said.

It’s great for the people of the community to get to know the ones who respond to their calls for help, Small said, and it’s equally beneficial for the police officers, he added.

“Everybody’s in a good mood,” said Small, “especially when it’s good weather like this. It’s just really easy.” He added, “It’s an easy, friendly environment to get to know each other.”

By Jean Perry

Gary Lawrence is going to Los Angeles, and you can go with him.

Not literally, of course, but for those who have watched him go from high school intern to video whiz at ORCTV, it’s no surprise that he’ll be vlogging his road trip as he moves to the West Coast to try and make it there working on feature film camera crews.

“I haven’t even planned all my stops,” he said. “I’ve got some friends I want to see, but I’m just going to vlog (video blog) my way out there. I think it’ll be a good document, maybe a little bit helpful to others considering the same move,” said Lawrence. “No two paths are the same when it comes to film. It’s not like being a doctor; it’s kind of a mysterious thing that nobody talks about.”

Lawrence, 27, has worked off and on for ORCTV for over a decade, including the last three years as a full-time employee. He grew up in Rochester where he had a bit of an epiphany in sixth grade. His older brother did a video project for the high school, and Gary was impressed.

“I used to shoot videos, but something about seeing how those kids had made this high-production show made me think, ‘Hey, I can do something like that,’” he said. “And I’ve been working towards it ever since.”

He got involved with ORCTV at the suggestion of his pastor, Rev. Robert Ripley of the First Congregational Church of Rochester.

“He filmed his sermons and he’d drop them off there, and he was like, ‘You should really shoot for them.’ It was what I wanted to be doing, I just wanted to further my knowledge.”

The experience, first as an Old Rochester student and then as an adult staff member shooting community video (and mentoring kids at his former school), was a great training ground.

“ORCTV’s been great,” he said. “It’s been really a perfect job for where I was coming out of college. We’ve done a lot here, first over at the Captain Hadley house, then back into the school. Now it’s like this full-fledged production studio. That whole experience was great, I couldn’t be happier with where we are.”

As Lawrence got more and more comfortable with his skills, he also learned an inconvenient truth: that living in Southeastern Massachusetts, surrounded by a loving family and lots of friends, was not the place for him to really thrive in his field. He knew he’d eventually have to make a move if he really wanted to reach his goals.

“Nobody in my family is really connected to the business. They’re all for it, but they’re not thrilled about me moving across the country,” he said. “But I met a producer and formed a relationship there, and they said ‘Come on out here, we’ll figure out what your role is going to be,’ and I had to go for it.”

Lawrence has no delusions of instant grandeur, saying he plans to grind his way toward his goals.

“There’s a hierarchy, you work your way up from the bottom,” he said. “Just being in the camera department for feature films, that’s my goal. Los Angeles really is where you have to be, just being around people that have that same passion that you do.”

For Lawrence, nerves are taking a backseat to excitement.

“I don’t care if it’s a set of a hundred people, a big narrative film with a budget, or just a few people working on a short project,” he said. “What’s great about L.A. is that there are just so many different ways to express yourself.”

Lawrence cites “anyone who produces original content” as influences, specifically Edgar Wright, Christopher Nolan, and legends like Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock.

Where does he see himself in the future?

“I just hope I get steady work, hopefully producing my own material, directing my own small stuff, low budget. That’s what’s ideal,” he said. “I know it won’t always be some big budget thing, and that’s OK. I just want to work.”

Check out Gary’s video blog on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nITy6p97ApQ&t=46s.

By Jonathan Comey