The Greer Police Department held its National Night Out on Tuesday evening, offering pizza and free prizes to local families.

National Night Out is an annual campaign that aims to strengthen connections between law enforcement and the communities they serve. In Greer, officers came out to four locations to meet and have dinner with residents.

Sgt. Roman Wilson has attended National Night Out every year that it has been held since he began working for the department 17 years ago. To him, building relationships with the community is not just a once-a-year event, but something he does every day on the job.

“My favorite thing is being out and about,” Wilson said. “Being a sergeant, I get to be out on the streets and get to meet people, get to know people and basically stay in the mix of everything.”

Greer Mayor Rick Danner also came out to the festivities, spending time with the community and officers at the Needmore Center. 

“This is an opportunity for our police officers and firemen to get out and visit the community,” he said. “It’s just a good way of us staying in touch with the community, and the community staying in touch with the city.”

Danner says his favorite part of the event is getting to see the officers interact with the kids of the community and build a relationship with them.

Some officers, though, get the chance to interact with children every day — not just on National Night Out. Whitney Cozzoli, Student Resource Officer at Woodland Elementary, is one of these officers. 

“Being a school resource officer gives you an opportunity to mold … the way they look at law enforcement,” she said. “... We’re not so much disciplinary as we are there to protect and to build that bond with them.”

Police officers were not the only ones taking part in Greer’s National Night Out. Several firefighters from the Greer Fire Department came out to talk to residents and show off their fire trucks to the kids of the town.

“It’s always great to come out with the community and build those relationships as much as we can,” said Joseph Clark, an engineer with the fire department. “[We] just want the community to know that we’re here to help as much as we can.”

For more information or to stay up-to-date with the departments, visit Greer Police and Greer Fire online.

Follow Breanna Laws on X at @GreerByBreanna