Evanston police: Special gathering lets residents ‘see us as people’

By Lee V. Gaines, Pioneer Press
Original article HERE

Evanston police and an associated residents group hope regular, informal gatherings between the city’s police department personnel and its residents will help bridge the divide between the community and the officers who are sworn to serve and protect it.

The “Coffee with a Cop” events, which are hosted in partnership with the city’s Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association, have become a tradition in Evanston. Last week, about a dozen members of the city’s police department gathered in the lower floor of the 415 Premier Apartments b

uilding on Howard Street for the latest installment, to meet and greet residents over coffee and baked goods. The event was co-sponsored by Howard Street business Sweet Temptations Bake Shop, which provided the treats.

There was no agenda for the two-hour, late afternoon event. Police officers chatted with those who walked in. Charles Wilson, who lives in the 18-story apartment building, stopped by to see what was going on. He was surprised to see such “good representation from the police department” and surprised that the event wasn’t tailored to a specific topic or issue.

“This is more of a social opportunity to understand the people behind the badges,” said Milcah Baraona, a member of the board for Evanston’s Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association. The academy is a free 12-week program designed to offer residents greater insight into the city’s police department.

“The only time civilians and police meet are unfortunately often in adversarial roles,” Baraona said. She said the “Coffee With a Cop” gatherings are intended to foster dialogue between the officers and residents in a non-stressful environment.

“Coffee With A Cop” was an initiative pioneered by the Hawthorne Police Department in California in 2011, according to EPD personnel and Baraona. The initiative spread and is now something police departments all over the country participate in, they said. Baraona said EPD and the city’s Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association have made a greater effort in the last year to have the event at least once a month.

EPD Deputy Chief James Pickett said residents and cops aren’t restricted to topics of crime and safety at these gatherings. They can talk about anything from sports to family, he said. At one “Coffee with a Cop” he attended, Pickett said a woman brought her dog and the conversation largely revolved around canines.

“People can just talk,” the deputy chief said.

Organizers said this was the first time the event has been hosted in the evening. Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th, who attended last week’s “Coffee With a Cop,” said the turnout at morning events is generally much better. Only about a half-dozen residents showed up to last week’s event.

Still, she said, there’s a lot of value in the tradition and it’s illustrative of the department’s efforts to engage with the community.

“In Evanston, if you had 20 people in a room, all 20 people would know at least two or three of these cops,” she said.

Terry Brauer, who lives in the Premier apartment building and attended last week’s event, said he could see the benefit of the gatherings for residents.

“You can express to police officers in an informal way the concerns you have about whatever, the parking, the neighborhood,” he said.

The benefit for police, said Officer Otha Brooks, is that residents “get to see us as people instead of as a cop in a uniform.” That’s especially important, he said, in light of the recent high-profile officer-involved shootings of civilians in various cities across the country, including Chicago.

“You get a bad rap, but all of us aren’t like that,” Brooks said.

If residents feel comfortable talking to and engaging with police, they’ll be more likely to report a crime or other issue to officers, said Evanston police Cmdr. Brian Henry.

“Every time we meet somebody new at one of these events, it’s positive,” he said.