‘Donuts with a Deputy’ displays humor as it builds conversation, trust

By Ben Beagle, Livingston County News
Original article HERE

Joseph Kingsbury arrived at the Livingston County Government Center wearing his vinyl police rain jacket. On his chest was a police badge, number 2088. In one pocket was a plastic toy radio; the other contained a small set of handcuffs.

Upon arrival, the 3-year-old boy from Mount Morris patrolled hallways to the right and left of the Government Center lobby. He was looking for bad guys.

Finding none, he instead coerced a good-humored Livingston County Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty to allow him to place the handcuffs around the sheriff’s wrists. Joseph would also be presented with a new “Junior Deputy” badge.

The episode was a light-hearted moment as part of “Donuts with a Deputy,” an informal Oct. 3 event organized by the Sheriff’s Office to allow members of the public to meet department personnel and share any concerns.

For Joseph, who was accompanied by his parents, Joshua and Christina Kingsbury, the gathering was a chance to meet law enforcement officers.

“He adores police officers; he loves them. If we’re out and he sees one at the store, at a restaurant, the park, he has to go and say ‘Hi’,” said Christina Kingsbury. “He says he wants to be one when he’s older.”

Dougherty acknowledged that the event’s name, “Donuts With a Deputy,” was chosen with a nod towards the humorous perception that law enforcement has an affinity for donuts.

“People like to laugh. ‘Donuts With a Deputy’ shows a little bit of humor, that we can laugh, too,” Dougherty said.

The event was modeled after the national “Coffee With a Cop” campaign, an annual autumn event launched in Hawthorne, Calif., in 2011. Members of the Hawthorne Police Department were looking for ways to interact more successfully with the citizens they served each day.

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office also shared the idea of the event as a means to build community trust, Doughtery said.

“We hope folks will come out and have a conversation. Meet us if they don’t know us, or share a question or comment,” Dougherty said. “The whole purpose is to build trust. We’re really blessed in this county that residents are willing to help us; they support us.”

Deputy Michael Didas, who oversees the Sheriff’s Office community policing efforts, set up the event. The donuts were donated by Wegmans.

There was no agenda for the two-hour session. Residents were able to come and enjoy a provided cup of coffee, a donut and conversation.

Dougherty attended the event between meetings and before departing for a training conference. Undersheriff Matt Bean, Capt. Norm Zeh, and Investigator Brian Applin attended for the duration of the event.

There were a number of young children who stopped and people who wanted to say hello, but not a lot of questions, Zeh said.

One man did stop to privately share with Zeh a traffic concern about an intersection where the man felt had a lot of drivers ignoring a stop sign.

Zeh said later that it was a common complaint and that the Sheriff’s Office maintains a log of such concerns that it uses to rotate patrols through to provide more scrutiny of those spots.

Several county employees stopped in during breaks to meet the Sheriff’s personnel. Town supervisors from the county’s public services committee also stopped by after their meeting, including Mount Morris Supervisor Charles J. DiPasquale, a retired police chief. Bean, the undersheriff, noted that DiPasquale gave him his start in law enforcement.

Dougherty said he intends to continue the event once a year, likely in the fall, and may consider having it at other locations and bringing one of the department’s specialty units, such as a K-9 or Mounted Patrol officer, to the event.