Coffee with a cop: Reaching out to the community

By Jesus Alvarado, USC Annenberg Media
Original article HERE

Southern California coffee shops hosted the annual “Coffee with a Cop” event this Tuesday, providing free coffee, donuts and other pastries to the public, giving them an opportunity to mingle with officers and talk about community needs and concerns.

On the USC campus, DPS set up shop at the Starbucks on Figueroa Street.

Elizabeth Carreño, the community relations manager for DPS, said the event could strengthen the relationship between officers and the rest of the USC community.

“Oftentimes our contact is only when we receive an emergency call, and that’s probably not the best time to try and establish a relationship,” Carreño said. “So, we really appreciate the opportunity to be able to try and establish a relationship in times like these.”

But DPS is not alone when it comes to looking out for the safety of USC and the surrounding community. They work very closely with LAPD.

“DPS shares a very close public safety partnership with the LAPD. We share the same goal—keeping our campus community safe,” said David Carlisle, Assistant Chief of DPS. “DPS interacts with LAPD on a daily basis to discuss public safety issues, crime suppression strategies and community concerns.”

DPS is looking out for the safety of the surrounding community by putting public safety kiosks throughout the nearby streets of USC. The goal of these kiosks is to “serve as a crime deterrent, reporting location for crime or other community issues, and as a source of public safety information,” according to Carlisle.

They host ice cream socials with different student organizations, organize Christmas toy giveaways and a “Boba with a Cop” event.

Another way DPS reaches out to the community is through neighborhood watch meetings.

“They have some concerns to express to us and it’s only during those meetings, and it’s only during those positive interactions, that we have an opportunity to find out what are the quality of life issues that we need to be dealing with,” Carreño said.

“Coffee with a Cop” has been an annual tradition for the Hawthorne Police Department since 2011. In 2015, police departments across the country adopted it as a national event.

On Tuesday morning, the nearby El Segundo Police Department hosted its third annual gathering at the Blue Butterfly Coffee Shop. Passersby joined officers for a quick chat while sipping on hot coffee and enjoying a sweet donut.

“I like to know how the first responders respond to our needs and how they service the public,” said Ellie Miller, an El Segundo resident. “I think it’s very important if you have a good relationship with [police officers]. You help them; they help us.”

For ESPD Captain Carlos Mendoza, events like these are good for community members to “let them know those police officers are just everyday people.”

He added that by simply drinking a cup of coffee with local police officers, community members created a better relationship with them, understanding the concerns of the community.

“It shows a different way for us to go out and get in touch with the community, because when you do have these negative issues, there are people who would be protesting the police department,” Mendoza said.

Police departments all over the country have faced protests following police shootings of unarmed black men. That is what Black Lives Matter and Colin Kaepernick have been protesting against.

“There’s some tensions between the police and people just from what you see in the news,” said Kevin Neighbors, general manager of the Blue Butterfly Coffee Shop that hosted the event. In any community, Neighbors says, it’s “good to have a place where people can come and talk to police that they trust and feel safe.”