Police cruisers, a Flight for Life helicopter and a drone unit will roll into Belgium Community Park next Tuesday as the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office hosts its 2026 National Night Out, running from 5 to 8 p.m. at 106 Beech Street. The free community event pairs public safety demonstrations with family entertainment, including a bounce house, mini-golf, free ice cream sandwiches and hot dogs, and appearances by McGruff the Crime Dog and PAW Patrol's Chase and Marshall.
The event is hosted by the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office, according to a Facebook announcement from the department. Attendees can expect a lineup of police vehicles, K-9 units, fire and EMS personnel, and a Special Response Team demonstration, along with raffle prizes throughout the evening.
Why Belgium Celebrates a Week Late
National Night Out is traditionally observed nationwide on the first Tuesday of August, but Wisconsin law enforcement agencies have flexibility to pick alternate dates, which is why Ozaukee County's celebration falls on August 11 rather than the standard date. Hoodline reported this same scheduling flexibility applies to Shorewood's National Night Out, another Milwaukee-area municipality holding its 2026 event on the same alternate date. National Night Out itself dates back to 1984, when Matt Peskin and the National Association of Town Watch launched it as a symbolic “lights-on” campaign against crime, drawing 2.5 million participants across 400 communities in its first year and growing to more than 38 million people across 16,000 communities nationwide, per the association.
Sheriff Christy Knowles leads the roughly 130-person department hosting the event. Knowles was sworn in in 2023 as the first female sheriff in Ozaukee County history, according to the Ozaukee Press, after beginning her law enforcement career in 1999 as a deputy-jailer and rising through jail, patrol, detective and executive leadership roles, including a stint as undersheriff, before winning election to the county's top law enforcement post.
Specialized Units on Display
Among the specialized resources on hand will be the sheriff's office K-9 unit, which includes K9 Geo, an Electronic Storage Detection dog trained to locate hidden digital media such as micro SD cards, hard drives and mobile devices during criminal investigations. Per Our Rescue, K9 Geo graduated from specialized detection training in mid-2024 to assist investigators searching for hidden digital evidence.
The Special Response Team, a tactical unit trained for high-risk search warrants, hostage negotiations and other crisis situations, will conduct a demonstration explaining its tactical safety protocols. The Flight for Life helicopter appearing at the park operates out of regional Wisconsin bases in Hartford and Burlington, delivering 24/7 critical trauma care and transport primarily to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, according to Froedtert. Each flight crew is staffed with specialized flight nurses and paramedics equipped with critical care capabilities and blood supplies, the hospital system notes.
A Food Drive Tied to the Festivities
Attendees are asked to bring a non-perishable food item, with each donated item earning an extra raffle entry. The donations will support local food pantries, and the Ozaukee Food Alliance in Saukville is the local beneficiary of the drive. The nonprofit, formerly known as the Saukville Community Food Pantry, was established in 2012 and now assists more than 300 families monthly and over 2,400 unique individuals annually across Ozaukee County, according to the organization, through choice food pantries, free community meals and weekend school backpack programs.
Belgium Community Park, the event's host site, sits in a village of 2,421 residents as of the 2020 census, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by Wikipedia. Incorporated in 1922, Belgium traces its roots to 19th-century Luxembourgish immigrant settlers and remains a cultural hub for Luxembourgish-American heritage in eastern Wisconsin. The park, which features four outdoor public pickleball courts, routinely hosts village festivals, summer concert series and civic gatherings, per CourtSource.us.
Part of a Broader Outreach Effort
National Night Out is just one piece of the sheriff's office's community engagement strategy. The department also runs an annual eight-week Citizens' Academy each autumn, giving residents hands-on exposure to patrol operations, dispatch and firearms training through mock scenarios designed to build transparency between officers and the public, according to the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office.
