Columbus Police Department is bringing back its Prayer and Praise National Night Out event back for a second year on Tuesday.
The department first hosted a Prayer and Praise night in September 2024, just after the last time a homicide was reported in the city.
Since then, Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said there have been no homicides reported in the city.
Shawanda Jones, public information officer for the city, said it is the first time in at least 17 years the city has gone a full 12 months without a homicide.
There have been shootings with injury over the past year but none of them fatal.
“I want you to know, the men and women of the police department, they’ve done a phenomenal job, but citizens, we couldn’t have done it without you,” Daughtry said in a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday.
The event on Tuesday, starting at 6 p.m., will give community members a chance to meet with city officials and first responders while also enjoying live music, food and a local safety and health resources fair.
“We’re doing it for many different reasons,” Daughtry said. “One of the reasons is because we want to keep our city covered in prayer and unity, bringing everybody together.”
Daughtry said the night will also be a show of support for the Canaan M.B. Church congregation after the building sustained substantial damage in a Sept. 14 fire, just months before the church’s 156th anniversary.
“Canaan has been a pillar in this community for years,” Daughtry said. “… Right now we’re calling all the churches out to come out and support, and let’s encourage Canaan Church as they try to rebuild from this catastrophe.”
In addition to the festivities Tuesday, Dorothy Sanders, a victim advocate for the city, said there will be a candlelight vigil honoring victims and survivors of domestic violence in recognition of September being Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“Someone who was tragically killed or someone that has been brutally assaulted or abused, any victim, anyone who’s a survivor, we’re doing this in remembrance of them,” Sanders told The Dispatch on Thursday. “That is what the … purpose of the (vigil) is.”
Sanders spends each day reaching out to domestic violence victims, letting them know what resources are available to them and explaining the process of filing charges against their abusers.
By bringing community members together for the vigil, Sanders hopes victims feel a sense of support that encourages them to report abuse.
“That is my hope, bringing everyone together so that we can combat this terrible disease because domestic violence is a disease,” she said. “… We are better together. If we all stand together, we’re hoping that we can end this domestic violence that’s going on in our city.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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