JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Neighborhoods in Duval County and across the country came together Tuesday afternoon to take a stand against drugs and violence as part of the 25th Annual National Night Out campaign.

For the 22nd year, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office participated in the event by holding more than 100 National Night Out events in local neighborhoods.

JSO said the purpose of the events is to reinforce the principles and importance of neighborhood watch programs in the community.

Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford and Mayor John Peyton got together with residents at the Timber Oaks subdivision in Northwest Jacksonville.

"It really celebrates the neighborhood crime-patrolling efforts and the neighborhood watch programs. We have about 850 neighborhood watches in Jacksonville. This celebrates the ones that are in existence and hopefully recruits new ones. Recognizing their partnership with law enforcement really makes Jacksonville safer and gives us a better chance of winning the war on crime," said Peyton.

"One of things I've always said is that not only do we need more officers on the street, but we need massive community support, and National Night Out helps build that community support for fighting crime in their neighborhood," said Rutherford.

Not far from where the sheriff and mayor met with community members, members of the Boys and Girls Club also got together for National Night Out and picked up trash in their Brentwood neighborhood.

Their message was they would not standby and allow their neighborhood to be polluted with trash or crime.

Nearly 100 children walked around the area with trash bags and rubber gloves.

National Night Out is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

Last year's campaign involved citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from more than 10,000 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide. In all, more than 34 million people participated in National Night Out 2007.

To learn about neighborhood watch programs or to launch a program in your community visit COJ.net -- Neighborhood Watch Program.