Coffee With a Cop fosters conversation between community, Missoula police

By Augusta McDonnell, Montana’s News Leader
Original article HERE

The Missoula Police Department hosted a new event first thing in the morning to promote better communication and positive relationships with the community.

“It is all about trying to find out what is on someone’s mind, and it is allowing them an informal way to say hi, to tell us how we are doing, tell us we could improve, or what we are doing well with,” said Missoula Police Chief Mike Brady.

Coffee With a Cop gave people the chance to grab a cup of joe and have a conversation. There were dozens of people who came to get to know their local police at Florence Hotel Thursday,

Sgt. Travis Welsh said police officers are not required to stop by but over a dozens showed up this week.

Brady said part of the event is also to say thank you to the downtown business owners for their support of increased patrols in the downtown area.

He said the safety of the downtown area is crucial the safety of the entire community, and their increase in patrols is making a difference.

“We’ve had issues downtown that we have been trying to address for several years. We’ve had council support and the mayor’s support, and we’ve put additional resources downtown, we’ve put a big effort into it and we’re hearing that we are making a difference, and we want to say thank you to the downtown business owners, because they are a big part of our efforts,” Brady said.

The ALPS Corporation hosted the free event. They hope to host another event in the next couple of months, and continue moving venues to give everyone in town a chance to stop by a place in their area.