Boonton police launch ‘Coffee with a Cop’ on Main Street

By William Westhover, Daily Record
Original article HERE

Police staked out the Boonton Coffee Company Tuesday, armed with dark roast, lattes and doughnuts, demonstrating clear intent to lure residents into their grasp.

By 7 p.m., the verdict on the department’s entry into the national “Coffee with a Cop” initiative was in.

“I thought it was great to meet them in a neutral place, and get to know who they are, and see them as people, not just officers who are going to enforce the law,” said Boonton resident Jennifer Douglas-Kruk, who brought her daughter, Kaitlyn, 10. “Real people who have families. Officer Chris was telling us about how he has two children.”

Kaitlyn, who like her mother exited with a ceramic Boonton Police souvenir coffee cup, said the doughnuts were good and learned about where some of the officers go on vacation.

“I don’t have a negative stigma against police, and I don’t want her to have it, either, which I why I thought it was important to bring her here today,” Douglas-Kruk said.

College student Adam Gelfand of Scotch Plains came to Boonton to visit friends and ended up chatting up police and Mayor Matthew DiLauri.

“I learned that police officers are super-approachable, and that they want to serve the community best they can,” he said.

“Normally when people come into contact with the police, it’s an emergency situation, and actually don’t get to form the kind of relationships they should,” DiLauri said. “I applaud the police for providing opportunities for the public to get to know them, and also highlight a lot of the community policing they do.”

Patrolman Christopher Petonak said “Coffee with a Cop” is one of several community-policing initiatives he participates in, such as National Night Out and the Bike Rodeo. The benefit goes both ways, he said.

“Everyone needs to trust one another, and the more people I get to know and understand helps me dealing with things in town,” he said. “If I understand more personalities and mindsets, it helps me make decisions later on.”

Petonak spoke at length to Adam Patterson, a college student.

“I was always interested in how police officers think, especially when they are on the job,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to potentially do rounds with them. They all seemed very friendly. I talked to them about their training because of my study of psychology, and they told me how they had to go through some psychology training.”

Chief David Mayhood explained that “Coffee with a Cop” was supported by The United States Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Service, as a way to help police connect with the community they serve, but too often meet only during stressful circumstances.

“This is our first one, a meet-and-greet to get it off on a good track,” Mayhood said. “The people here are asking great questions about traffic safety, school security.”

Mayhood said his department has something of a built-in home-field advantage when it comes to community policing.

“We have the perfect formula here for this to really take off and be successful because 19 of the 22 officers we have in the town of Boonton either live in the town of Boonton, were born and raised in the town of Boonton or now are raising kids in the town of Boonton,” he said. “In addition to that, we have six members who are firemen and three who are on the Kiwanis Ambulance. I’ve dabbled in all three, police, fire and ambulance, so we have a really good formula to partner with the community and make this work. Our hearts are in it because we have a vested interest in Boonton.”

Only a handful of people showed up during the first hour, but by 6 p.m., the shop was packed and even a few leashed dogs in the pet-friendly establishment.

“Boonton’s a very community-based town, as you can see,” said Frankie McDonald, owner of Boonton Coffee Company. “I just think it’s another good thing the town is doing, so I’m all for it.”

“We were always good at community policing, but as far as promoting and marketing ourselves, we’ve been learning to walk in the last few years.,” Mayhood said. “We’re not new to the game in best practices. But now we’re trying to fine-tune some of the things we’re trying to achieve in the community.”

“This is exactly what our committee is working towards, more community events like this, and they came through tonight, true blue,” said Alderman Robert Tullock, who serves as the board’s police commissioner.

Mayhood said the goal is to have up to four “Coffee with a Cop” events per year. None are scheduled as yet, but he hope for at least one or two more before the end of the year.