Families meet officers at ‘Night Out’

A “crash simulator,” one of a dozen exhibits on the lawn of Teyechea Park Aug. 27 for the first Nogales Night Out, attracted a group of youngsters. They asked Officer Fernando Ayon from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) if it was a ride they could go on.

Ayon told them straight out, “You can only ride it once. It will cost you your life.”

Then he invited the visitors to watch as he spun the truck cab several times. A doll secured in a car seat survived the simulated rollover, but an unbuckled dummy plopped to the ground in a heap.

“This is what can happen when you don’t wear a seatbelt,” Ayon told the youths.

For three hours, police, firefighters and crime prevention representatives talked with children and adults and gave out fire hats, stickers and other free items.

Chief William Ybarra of the Nogales Police Department described the event as “kind of a flare-off of National Night Out,” an Aug. 4 event that brought about 600 neighbors together with their law enforcement agencies.

“We’re trying to gain the support from you,” Ybarra told the visitors.

Other law officers expressed their hopes about the Night Out.

“We’re telling the bad guys in Nogales that we will not tolerate what they do,” said County Attorney George Silva.

At the attorney’s table, kids picked up black or yellow T-shirts emblazoned with “I Have the Power” on the back and wore them around the park. The message means the power to stay away from drugs and violence, to get an education, and to listen to parents, Silva said.

“This community is safe because it supports law enforcement,” said County Sheriff Antonio Estrada.

Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel thanked Vice Mayor Arturo Garino for organizing the first-time event.

Two NPD K-9 officers brought their dogs to the park to demonstrate their training.

One was a lively German shepherd named Tesko. He used to work for Customs and Border Protection, but was given to the NPD in June 2008 because he was too energetic for the port, said K-9 Officer John Zuniga.

He planted a small stash of marijuana in a generator near a booth and walked Tesko around the lawn. When the dog caught a whiff of the drug, he lunged toward the generator.

Tesko has thrived on police work, said Zuniga, who takes the dog home. “He just needed a family.”