Back to all news
Connecting community to law
By Ben Davis, Herald Argus
Original article HERE
On Thursday, area police agencies teamed up with McDonald’s to host the “Coffee with a Cop” event in La Porte.
The event was held at the La Porte McDonald’s on Pine Lake Avenue. In attendance were representatives for the La Porte County Sheriff’s Department, the La Porte City Police Department, the Michigan City Police Department, Indiana State Police, and also the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The event gave citizens the opportunity to meet with the different police agencies, ask questions, voice concerns, and say thank you to the men and women who serve in law enforcement in the area.
“It is just another example of our community outreach,” said La Porte County Sheriff John Boyd. “People can come out here and they can talk to us about the issues going on in their communities and in their neighborhoods and they can do it on a casual basis.”
The event was held from 8 a.m to 10 a.m. It is the second “Coffee with a cop” event to be held in La Porte County, as another event was held at the McDonald’s on Michigan Boulevard in Michigan City.
“We are really exited to continue this event here in La Porte,” said Sam Lubeznik, co-owner of the six McDonald’s locations in La Porte County. “So many times people in the community do not get the opportunity to interact with our local law enforcement on a one-on-one basis. These are brave men and women that dedicate their lives to keeping their community and their neighbors safe. We think it is very important to introduce some of the people in our community that may not have otherwise gotten the chance to meet these brave men and women, to each other.”
Both Boyd and Lubeznik were pleased with the turnout for the event. WOCE of La Porte hosted a live broadcast at there, and Boyd said more Coffee with a Cop events are in the works already. Boyd also stressed the importance of all the local police agencies working together to help serve the people of the area as best as possible.
“We are all in it together,” Boyd said. “While we do have jurisdictions and we do have boundaries, we really don’t recognize those like we used too. Our problems are Westville problems, Westville problems are Kingsford Heights problems, and Michigan City’s, and State Police. We are all in it together, so it is important that we have a united front, and that people can come out here and they can talk to us about the issues going on in their communities and in their neighborhoods.”
MCPD Assistant Chief Royce Williams echoed Boyd’s sentiments about the event.
“Any chance we get when we are not out there doing our job enforcing the law, and we can take break, have a coffee and meet face to face with the community that we severe, is an awesome opportunity. I wish we would do more of these, and we probably will,” he said. “It has been great. It gives us an opportunity to be available.”
