Taking a bite of crime will be a cinch with Fulton County’s National Night Out on Aug 7.

The annual event, which this year will be at 5495 Old National Highway in College Park from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., is to promote crime awareness in the community, as well as crime and drug prevention.

Detective Donna Bridges of the East Point Police Department said the event is geared toward the entire community, but she is especially focusing on the children.

“My goal is to get the kids out to learn about drug and crime prevention,” she said. “We want to let them know that McGruff is out there trying to take a bite out of crime and to learn about being safe in the community.”

Involvement is not limited to just the police departments in Fulton.

Representatives from Fulton County’s Fire and Sheriff Departments, Court Watch, Office of Behavioral Health Services, Health and Wellness and the Safe Kids Coalition will also be present. These representatives will be on hand to talk to residents and give out what Bridges referred to as “important information.”

“We will have other activities for them to participate in as well as giving out book bags,” Bridges said. “We will also have our ID person out to do fingerprinting so parents can have their child’s fingerprints on file.”

Bridges is working closely to help make the event go as planned and said participation in past years has held steady — a number she hopes increases this year.

“We’ve had over 200 attend,” she said. “It always increases every year as we get more involvement from businesses and citizens.”

Although the event is a collective effort of all the communities across Fulton County, Bridges said in particular to the city of East Point the event is significant.

“We are a close-knit community,” said Bridges. “We take [National Night Out] as fighting back to those criminals that want to bring drugs and crime into the neighborhood.”

Bridges said it is also crucial that the children of the community, along with the adults, grasp the event’s importance.

“[National Night Out] will let the children know we are there for them,” said Bridges.

In addition to the information on crime awareness, live entertainment and food will also be available to attendees.