COLUMBIA (WACH) -- Community members all over the Midlands took part in the 29th year of National NIght Out.

The nationwide event urges communites to take back their neighborhoods by banding together to keep an eye on crime.

People from Briarwood Neighborhood Association planned an event at Windsor Lake Elementary, for citizens and members of the Richland County Sheriff's Department.

During Tuesday nights event there was a special bullet proof vest donation from the neighborhood association for Deputy Adrian Thompson.

"It let's me know, and other deputies know that there are people out there who still care about us and want to see us go home at the end of the day," said Thompson.

"We give a bullet proof vest to a deputy every year and last year we gave a cooling vest to one of the K-9's," said the President of Briarwood neighborhood association Jim O'Brien.

O'Brien also said that their neighborhood is challenging other neighborhoods in Richland County to donate vests also, due to the fact that vests last 5 to 6 years.