For retired police officer Doug Arp, whose promotional stunts for National Night Out Against Crime have been many and varied, today is a day to dry off.

For citizens, tonight is the night to cap off a week of efforts by law enforcement to enlist more help from the public. Events will be all around Vicksburg.

With the help of Warren County officials, Arp stepped out of a swimming pool at the Culkin Volunteer Fire Station after a week of promoting the 27th annual campaign.

His theme was, Neighborhoods need to pool their resources against crime, and Arp spent seven days playing volleyball and shooting squirt guns with dozens of visitors. He said children even squirted the cruiser of Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, who hopes the promotional stunt will have good results. “His intent is that it attracts attention to crime prevention,” Pace said.

In addition to playing around, Arp took calls for media interviews and chatted up the theme that citizens need to be aware and alert and summon officers to investigate suspicious activities.

The sheriff and Deputy Bill Jones helped Arp out of the pool and onto a Culkin fire truck at about 5 p.m. Monday. The above-ground pool itself, valued at $500, was auctioned off at $1 per ticket with all the money going to the family of Deputy Sheriff David Lambert, who died two weeks ago after sustaining injuries in a car wreck June 24.

One highly anticipated visitor was Attorney General Jim Hood, who stopped by a week ago and helped fill the pool with a hose from a truck at the fire station, Arp said.

“He was a really nice guy,” said Arp. “He told me to call him again next year.”

One unsettling moment was waking to see Mike Terry of Fisher Funeral Home standing over him.

“Do you know how scary that is to have someone from a funeral home standing over you at night?” said Arp.

With temperatures hovering around 100 for the past few days, Arp said, “Staying wet all the time, it really hasn’t bothered me.” Fortunately, a tent was donated last Tuesday for his convenience.

He said one night he even needed a blanket.

For nearly two decades, Arp’s shenanigans to promote the campaign have included his spending a week underground, in a phone booth, an elevated patrol car, a water fountain, a wrecked car, a trash bin, an armored vehicle, on a billboard along with being in a concrete truck at the fire station last year.

He has begun considering staying in a hot-air balloon or a refrigerated truck for next year’s promotion.