The National Night Out, where residents meet police officers from their local precinct across the city, and on this night in the Bronx, that includes Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Mayor Bill de Blasio stopped by for remarks, as well.

“The Bronx is a good place, the Bronx is a special place and we will never allow violence to take over the Bronx, ever,” he said. “Whenever there’s an act of violence we say no. we fight back because we will not let violence define us.”

For Basil Moore, president of the 46th Precinct Community Council, it’s an event he does not miss.

“This event is edifying because you get everybody together, get the cops and the community together," he said.

As president of the Community Council, gun violence is an issue that comes up in meetings.

”All the time - they talk about the guns in the neighborhood the drugs in the neighborhood so there’s a lot of that kind of problem in the neighborhood right now,” he said.

This year, through Aug. 1, 24 people were shot in the 46th precinct this year. That’s fewer than the 33 people shot last year, but it is 14% more victims than in 2019, before the pandemic.

There is also an increase in robberies.

But overall, major crime in the precinct this year through Aug. 1 is down compared to last year, when New York was in the throes of the pandemic.

“This isn’t a switch thats gonna flick, it’s concentrated effort this is part of the crime fighting connecting with the community,” Shea said.

One recent shooting victim in the 46th precinct, a 16-year-old teenager killed last month, in what police called a gang-related shooting. Two people, one of them a 15-year-old boy, were arrested.

Kinsley Jabouin, a school principal, said, events like these, show community policing at its best.

“I think it helps bridge the divide between the community and police officers the more you see them outside of you know, writing tickets, arresting people it gives it a different face,” Jabouin said.

Meanwhile, Moore, who has lived here for more than 35 years, said he and most community residents do not want to see resources and funding taken away from the police department.

“They want to walk the road safe,” Moore said. “They don’t want to be running and ducking gun shots.”