Coffee with a Cop: Residents meet with Shepherdstown Police Dept.

“This is actually a nationwide event that we brought here to Shepherdstown,” said Mike King, Chief of Police. “We just want to meet with the public and let them talk about their concerns and hopefully we can answer any of the questions they might have.”

According to the official site, Coffee with A Cop was launched in Hawthorne, California in 2011, as a result of a brainstorming session. Members of the Hawthorne Police Department were looking for ways to interact more successfully with the citizens they served each day.

In March of 2011, Hawthorne, California’s Police Department Community Affairs Unit hosted it’s first Coffee with a Cop event. In May of 2013, a national training program was established through a partnership between the Hawthorne Police Department and the University of Illinois’ Center for Public Safety and Justice.

Fast forward to Oct. 2016, and a national Coffee with a Cop day was established where every law enforcement agency in the U.S. hosts it’s own event on the same day.

King said the department hopes to follow suit. To start, the department will hold a Coffee with a Cop event quarterly to build a stronger connection with the community.

“I think sometimes, it is totally a perception issue people have about cops,” King said. “There are reasons we have to do the things we do, and if people have questions, we would definitely like to open up a place for them to ask us about why things are done a certain way. I think this is a just a way that people can become more informed and it helps us interact more with the community.”

Marianne Davis, director of the Shepherdstown visitors center, agreed, stating the strength of the community lies in it’s residents.

“I think that the strength of Shepherdstown is not just it’s wonderful businesses and it’s independent shops and restaurants,” Davis said. “The strength of Shepherdstown is the community that supports these things. So, anything that we can do to encourage people to think about their community, whether it’s the police thinking about the community or the community thinking about our police, our hope is to get people talking.”

Nancy Stewart, resident of Shepherdstown, was one of the first residents to attend Sunday’s event.

“We live right near the police station and I often read about police incidents and the police log,”Stewart said. “I really just had some questions about what their duties were and how they interact with the Shepherd University police. I was curious about the sorts of things that they run across on a daily basis. I will attend another meeting and I’m sure I will have more questions in the future to ask these officers.”