The Thursday Night Market Place will being encouraging safety tonight when local and county agencies come together to promote Crime Awareness Day during the annual City Employees Appreciation Night event at the Hanford Civic Auditorium.

"It is important for people to know how to protect themselves," Hanford Police Chief Carlos Mestas said. "We want to reach out to the citizens as much as possible, to allow them to meet the officers and to help people prevent themselves from becoming victims."

Different vendors and businesses across the county will be on hand from 6 to 9 p.m. to show residents different items that are available to help protect their homes and property, with police officers there to demonstrate preventative measures that people can use to keep themselves from becoming the victims of a crime.

"We'll be there providing information on identity theft, which is on the rise across the nation," Cmdr. Gary Cramer with the Corcoran Police Department said. "We're also going to give out home safety tips to make your home more secure and less of a target, and even hand out gun locks to gun owners."

Officials with Hanford PD, the Hanford Fire Department, the Kings County Sheriff's Department, the Lemoore Police Department and California Highway Patrol are also listed as being in attendance, according to an official press release.

Information will be available on traffic safety, neighborhood watch programs, surveillance equipment and even sign-ups to join the Police Explorer Program.

Citizens visiting the Kings County Sheriff's Department Offender Watch Booth will be able to get information on sex offender registration and how to look up potential threats living nearby. Officers on hand will also provide tips and information on how to check their neighborhoods and keep themselves safe if they come into contact with a registered offender.

The Sheriff's Department Citizens on Patrol program will also be on hand with fliers on joining the program and what it means to be a local resident helping out in law enforcement.

The Hanford Police Department will also be offering children's fingerprinting services, so parents can get personal ID cards to help locate and identify their kids if they ever go missing.

"This city is growing to over 50,000 residents, but it still has that small-town feeling," Mestas said. "There used to be a time when you could leave your doors unlocked, but now, unfortunately, you need to leave them locked. It's a different time now. It's just too bad that it has come to this."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(Aug. 14, 2008)