Marietta cops meet citizens for coffee and a chat

By Jon Gargis, The Marietta Daily Journal
Original article HERE

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Residents had the chance to meet with Marietta Police officers Saturday for a dialogue over donuts and coffee rather than over how fast their car may have been going.

The Glover Park gazebo was the site of the department’s first “Coffee with a Cop” event, which allowed the public to meet with several officers in a social setting to discuss policing issues that were important to them. Triana Arnold-James, a Marietta resident and the reigning Mrs. Georgia Classy of Today’s International American Woman, helped coordinate the event as part of her pageant platform.

“With everything that’s going on, with all the (police-involved) shootings and things like that, there are good police officers out there, and it’s important that we talk, that we communicate, that we sit down. I’ve seen others across the country do ‘Coffee with a Cop,’ so I brought it (here),” Arnold-James said. “The purpose of Coffee with a Cop is to bring the community together and open the dialogue, have a positive conversation and see police officers in a positive light — just bridging the gap between the community and the police officers.”

Five Marietta officers were on hand to speak to attendees, who saw several members of the public come by to take part in the event while others came across it after attending the nearby farmers market or other happenings around Marietta Square.

Among the participants was Officer Chuck McPhilamy, spokesperson for the Marietta Police Department, who said he and other officers were asked a wide range of questions.

“We had people asking just about enforcement within specific communities,” he said. “For the most part, the questions were just more of a human nature — what do you like, how did you get into the job, what’s the uniform like?”

During his dialogue with attendees, McPhilamy highlighted a recent Marietta Police incident that ended with officers safely taking a man into custody who may have been trying to get shot by law enforcement.

Police previously said that man, identified as Lan Weddington of Marietta, had carjacked an individual, and when officers found him, he soon thereafter jumped on another vehicle, “pushed his hands down into his pockets and swiftly removed and pointed his hands at officers, as if to simulate having a gun,” according to a Marietta Police news release.

But McPhilamy said officers were able to talk Weddington down — a resolution, he said, due in part to the Crisis Intervention Training that the department is emphasizing with its officers.

“That crisis intervention training is teaching us how to deal with someone who is approaching the situation from a mental (condition). In that moment, he’s pulling his hands in an aggressive manner and pointing them as though he had a weapon, and there’s a lot of controversy out there on, ‘Should we have drawn the gun, should we have not?’” McPhilamy said. “There’s no way to second guess what happened and what went through those officers’ minds, but I credit the training that we received, because his reaction was not consistent with a threat, his reaction was consistent with mental issues.”

FURTHER COMMUNITY CHATS EXPECTED

McPhilamy said he walked away from Saturday’s event with ideas shared by participants on how the department may be able to further reach out to the public.

“One of the ladies that was here was representing the Latin community. She said she has some serious concerns with people who are Hispanic being afraid to report crimes. She was asking if there was a way we could start some sort of an academy that addressed their concerns. We’ve exchanged information and I’ll work on that,” McPhilamy said. “The goal would to be try and get those questions addressed.”

Also assisting with the event was Sharon Hill with Citizens of Public Safety, a Cobb-based group “dedicated to influencing for change in public safety through advocacy, outreach, education and programs,” according to the organization’s website.

“We’re here to show that all of us need to be engaged in public safety,” Hill said.

Arnold-James said she hoped participants’ takeaway was that neither the community nor the officers were a threat to one another.

She said future Coffee with a Cop events are expected to take place later this year with officers in Austell and Powder Springs.