Mischief Night Is Being Transformed In Camden
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- Years ago, Mischief Night in Camden was full of violence and property destruction. Officials are hoping to keep all that in the past and they're focused tonight on Camden's kids. To these Camden children, Halloween is simply a chance to play games, dress up and eat goodies. And police hope it stays that way as they grow into teenagers. Unfortunately over the years, some have seen causing trouble on the night before Halloween as a right of passage. But the dreaded Mischief Night is now being transformed into Blue Night.
"A Blue Night is where we celebrate, community celebrate us coming together, incorporating our officers with the kids," Camden County Police Captain Gabriel Camacho tells Eyewitness News.
Children took an oath to be good citizens in their neighborhoods and earned the right to be blue knights. City officials and the county police department see tonight as a golden opportunity to strengthen relationships with local families.
"This is such a huge improvement because I've been doing work with the juvenile population in city of Camden for many, many years and I remember kids as young as that saying 'no no no cops are our enemies', so to see this is remarkable," says Wren Ingram of the Fairview Neighbors Community Group.