October 5, 2018

Coffee with a Cop marks third year

By Kayla Rivas, The Star Democrat
Original article HERE

The Easton Police Department and the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office hosted a “Coffee with a Cop” at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church on Oct. 3 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Oct. 3, 2018, is the Third Annual National Coffee with a Cop Day.

The purpose of the event is to allow residents to meet their local law enforcement officers, ask questions, voice concerns, and learn more about the Easton Police Department and the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office.

The community outreach initiative is purposely kept informal so citizens are comfortable discussing issues like criminal activity, crime prevention and relationships with local police personnel.

The goal is for the police officers to build relationships with residents, which will hopefully result in more positive interactions and a willingness to work together to prevent crime.

Shortly before the event, children aged three and four, and teachers from the pre-K program at St. Mark’s met several law enforcement officers. The children had the opportunity to sit inside a police car, and later presented officers with a poster reading, “Sending a high five your way to say…Thank You for all you do!” with pink and blue handprints clustered about.

At the event, local resident and pastor’s wife Linda Kuhling said she expressed concerns to Sgt. Tim Larrimore over recent fraudulent phone calls made to her home.

“It’s something about credit card information usually,” Kuhling said. “Sgt. Larrimore will stay on the phone with them for three or fours hours just to annoy them. Most of us don’t answer, though.”

“Sometimes we get calls pretending to be a grandchild in trouble,” she said, with local resident Hannah Alnutt also agreeing.

Easton Lion’s Club Secretary Donald Yingling, who lives near Easton High School, voiced concerns over students’ loud music blasting from their cars in the school’s parking lot.

“If your music can be heard from a distance of 50 feet or more, it’s a $60 fine,” said Cpl. Lenox Trams. “Friday’s are the worst,” he said, often giving students tickets for burning tires racing out of the parking lot.

Trams said EPD’s Coffee with a Cop event generally draws middle-aged crowds, and believes a meeting scheduled later in the day would attract younger residents.

“We try to change the venue every time because we want to reach many different people in multiple locations,” Larrimore said.

“So far we’ve covered personal safety, like how to be aware of your surroundings, and what to do in worst the case scenario that someone breaks into your home,” Larrimore said. “We’ve touched traffic concerns people have in their neighborhoods, and police presence people want to have in their neighborhoods.”

Police also noted recent trends of vehicle break-ins and people reporting their trash cans stolen.