. >> reporter: we sat down with marvin muhammad in prince george's county. he brought his 17-year-old son ahmed to meet police officers. >> there is no real community without police officers. we need them. there needs to be order. >> reporter: the goal of national night out is to improve police community relation, and highlight crime prevention efforts. >> law enforcement are not apart from, they are a part of the community. i'm not from someplace else. so i grew up in prince george's county, and i want people to come to events like national night out and get to know us. >> reporter: in d.c., national night out comes after a violent weekend. three people died, others hurt in 11 shootings. another man was stabbed to death. the mayor of d.c. acknowledged it was a tough weekend. >> what i will tell them is our police department is vigilant, all the way from the chief down to the lieutenants and the officers who are walking the beat. we ask that our community continue to work with them so that we crimes. we no that's important. >> reporter: he says it's importan