Bethel Park hosts another successful National Night Out
New venue shows off dogs and drone technology
Bethel Park has gone to the dogs. And drones, too.
In an effort to take a bite out of crime, the municipality showcased both during National Night Out held Aug. 4 at its new digs, the Park Avenue playground and parking lot.
The vicinity adjacent to the Bethel Park Community Center is a venue change from the previous event’s location at Miner’s Memorial Park.
“We’re excited to switch things up,” said Bethel Park Police Department Community Resource Officer Amber Carruba. “The event has just grown bigger and bigger every year and we had to adapt to that. The location is more central and gives us a lot more options to do new things.”
In addition to representatives from the U.S. Army, the event featured a visit from the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group, a flyover from the state police helicopter and an opportunity for the police department to demonstrate the capabilities of its new drone lineup.
“Phenomenal technology,” Carruba said. “What they can do is just really extraordinary and keep everybody in the community safe.”
Officers Ross Small and Chris Frost have been training with the equipment since its purchase in January. They explained how the variety of drones can be used for all kinds of different calls from search-and-rescue missions to situations such as an armed man inside a house or building and the SWAT team needs more information.
“There are a lot of different applications,” said Frost. “In a case like a toddler getting lost running into the woods, we’d use one type of drone to search because it’s like a big camera in the sky. The little interior drones can fly inside rooms, closets, underneath chairs. They can go anywhere.”
Drones are operational in many of the South Hills Area Council of Governments (SHACOG), including Castle Shannon, Mt. Lebanon, Whitehall and South Park, says Frost, but Bethel Park is still waiting to dispatch the unit.
“We’re fully trained and ready to use it, but we haven’t had a call that we’ve needed it yet,” Frost said.
“We’re just waiting for that first call,” added Small.
The interest in the drone demonstrations during National Night Out was only supplanted by the appearance of the state police’s chopper with its wailing sirens and whirling rotor.
“I think the coolest thing was the helicopter,” said John Walsh. “I did not expect that it would land,” he added of the brief touchdown on the Park Avenue football field.
While many expected the frozen treats from Beedles Ice Cream truck, face painting, music from the Pittsburgh DJ truck, a visit from the Pirate Parrot and a display of emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, few anticipated the appeal of the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group.
Specifically with the Allegheny County Police, the unit is a member of the Allegheny County child abduction response team. It serves 13 counties throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“We’re very happy that the Bethel Park police invited us out,” said Chris Ruch.
“We work for police departments, and we’re here to help when there’s a missing person. So this is a great event to partner with and showcase the specialty search-and-rescue resources that we bring, including our dogs.”
Emily Golnazarian introduced Wally, one of the rescue dogs, to those attending the event. She explained how the organization has three different facets within the canine search-and-rescue unit and that Wally was a “trailing dog” who will find a missing person in the woods after being set up on a scent article.
“He’ll find your last footsteps and take you there,” she said.
Allegheny Mountain Rescue also has air set or open air scent dogs that travel off leash and cover an entire area and cadaver dogs that detect human remains.
“They’re cute,” said Abby and Jake Sanchez of the dogs, but their mother Nicole added the real reason for bringing her children to National Night Out was to meet the police officers.
“We always love this night,” she said. “It’s always a lot of fun for the community to get together and there’s lots to do, but we love that we can meet the police officers. It shows them (my children) who’s taking care of our community and how much they care.”
Since 2017, Officer Mathew Poling has been a detective on the Bethel Park police force. He said that regardless of rank, all of the officers attend National Night Out and relish the opportunity to meet the citizens.
“The most important thing is community engagement,” he said. “It’s the backbone of policemen. The community outreach that we do helps build trust within our community.”
Carruba agreed.
“National Night Out is our favorite event of the year because it gives us the opportunity to connect with our community outside of emergency situations. It brings the community closer and we get to interact with our neighbors on a more personal level, outside of when we’re dealing with them at their worst moments.
“Listening to music, having ice cream and human conversations,” she continued. “That’s what the night’s about. That’s why we love it. We get to learn names, we get to know the citizens, especially the kids. These fun interactions break down barriers.”