Dozens of residents stopped by Lopes Field in Onset Tuesday evening to celebrate the Wareham Police Department's first ever National Night Out.

A national event that encourages community members to work together with police departments to promote crime prevention, National Night Out is designed to show criminals that neighbors are organized and fighting back against crime.

"We will, as one, proceed and make the best progress we can as a community," said Town Administrator Mark Andrews, kicking off the event.

National Night Out began with a "first responder" emergency vehicle parade down Onset Avenue to Lopes Field, with several local and state officials participating.

"It's a great event,"  said Congressman Barney Frank. "This is the best of us."

Community volunteer Joseph Olivieri was honored for helping to organize the event. Though it was the first town-wide National Night Out, Olivieri has organized the event in his own Wareham Lake Shores neighborhood in past years.

The Plymouth County Sheriffs Department was on-hand to provide child identification and fingerprinting, and volunteers from Wareham's Community/Police Partnership fitted children with free bicycle helmets, funded through a United Way grant.

Local band Sound Tower, fronted by the Wareham Police Department's own Officer George Dionne, provided tunes throughout the evening. Volunteers from Target, a national sponsor of the event, provided face painting, and families enjoyed a Wareham Police K-9 Unit demonstration, as well as a "jaws of life" vehicle extrication demo by Onset Fire Department.

"This is exciting," said State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton). "Wareham is back. It's moving forward."