Coffee with a Cop offers community a chance to meet Greeley police officers

By Tommy Simmons, Greeley Tribune
Original article HERE

Capt. Mike Savage of the Greeley Police Department has been a police officer for almost 41 years, and he’s seen the city through some major changes over the course of those four decades.

That’s why he said he thinks community outreach events such as Coffee With a Cop, which the Greeley Police Department hosted Tuesday morning at The Egg and I 3830 10th St., are important.

“As the community grows and gets bigger that relationship (with the police department) goes away,” Savage said. “So events like this help to re-establish that.”

The department used one of the restaurant’s dining rooms to set a line of tables together where people could sit and talk with the police officers who attended. The event had an open house feel, and people came and went as their schedules allowed.

“I was thinking we’d get a lot of questions about speeders on streets or abandoned vehicles,” said Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner. “But it’s mostly been folks just coming by to say thank you.”

This was the first time the Greeley Police Department hosted Coffee With a Cop. Garner described the venture as an experiment. Department leaders were curious as to what the community’s response might be. Garner said it has been positive, and it featured appearances from city council member Sandy Elder, Greeley Fire Chief Dale Lyman and Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway.

“We’ve also had some folks who are just folks,” Garner said.

Garner said the department intends to host a similar event after the first of the year and said it might take place in the evening or on a weekend to attract a different crowd.

“If you get one group of folks, you miss another,” he said, adding many people said they had to work Tuesday morning.

For Savage, it was a chance for him to share his lifelong passion.

“Being a police officer is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “Our job is to protect the public, and this is a chance to let people meet with us and see who we are.”