Tracy Press

Neighborhood Watch groups are gearing up for Tuesday’s National Night Out, when police, firefighters and city leaders will visit block parties around town to celebrate grassroots crime prevention.

It’s also the quarter-century anniversary of the national Neighborhood Watch organization.

Police and firefighters will travel in a caravan to as many as a dozen themed get-togethers to meet volunteers — their eyes and ears in the community.

Neighborhood Watch captain Eddi Madruga plans to decorate her West Lowell Avenue home with silver stars in celebration of the national organization’s silver anniversary.

She’ll put together a potluck, have a few kids’ games and hopefully meet new neighbors, she said.

The idea is for Tracy residents to put a face to the people sworn to protect them.

"Police come around and take the time to spend with the community," said Madruga, who invited an acoustic guitarist to entertain her guests. "It’s nice to see the cop cars in the neighborhood for a good reason. It’s like a police parade."

For the Southside neighborhood watch group, Tuesday will be its first meeting.

"It’ll be a nice way to get it started," said Larry Gamino, who for some time has tried to rally enough neighbors to form a Southside watch group.

Nationally, 35 million people participated in the meet-the-cops night out, according to the organization.

Locally, about a dozen groups plan to pitch in so far.

"It helps preserve that small-town feeling," Madruga said. "And it really makes people stand up and take notice of the people who are out there to protect them."

National Night Out will be from about 5 to 6:30 Tuesday night.

For information, call the Tracy Police Department’s neighborhood watch officer, Irene Rose, 831-6581, or visit the national Web site at www.nationaltownwatch.org.