Fort Morgan Police Department hears little feedback during ‘Coffee with a Cop’ events

By Slade Rand, The Fort Morgan Times
Original article HERE

Not one community member attended the Fort Morgan Police Department’s hour-long “Coffee with a Cop” session on Tuesday morning, Jan. 28.

Administrative Sgt. Steven Brown sipped coffee at Zazzy Cafe during the department’s first Coffee with a Cop of 2020 Tuesday morning, and he said a lack of community response during events like this could actually be a good sign for the department.

“It can be an indicator if there are issues in the community, or if people have issues with the police department. Then we’d have more people in here,” Brown said of attendance at such sessions.

From 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, he sat with FMPD intern Tekiah Dabbs at a corner table near the counter at Zazzy Cafe, ready to answer questions or chat with any interested local residents. This restaurant hosts many of the department’s Coffee with a Cop sessions, and Brown said it’s common for no one to attend or give feedback during the formerly biweekly coffee hours.

Brown said the department is considering scaling back the Coffee with a Cop community sessions since so little people attend each one. He said that in 2019, the department hosted more than 20 coffee hours and only had one individual come to make a complaint.

“It’s just kind of a reevaluation of whether we need to do so many of them,” Brown said.

He said the coffee shop and restaurant events could happen monthly as opposed to every two weeks. The next one will be in the end of February, with a location and date to be announced on the department’s Facebook page.

Brown said the biweekly schedule was something encouraged by former Chief of Public Safety Paul Schultz.

Schultz was recently denied a contract extension after announcing his plans to retire in the near future, and he was immediately removed from h

Brown said the department “ramped up” its existing Coffee with a Cop program under Schutlz, but it did not hear much negative feedback at all during the more frequent events.

“What we’ve learned is that the citizens of Fort Morgan are happy with the police department,” Brown said. “We don’t have those problems. Our citizens are very supportive of the police department.”

Code Enforcement Officer John Simpson attended Tuesday’s Coffee with a Cop for around half an hour during his morning patrol shift. He agreed that the lack of negative feedback or concern could be a good thing. Simpson was recently named the City of Fort Morgan’s Employee of the Year for 2019 during the city’s January all-staff meeting.

Brown said he has not heard from many citizens concerned about Schultz’s departure or the level of service provided by the department recently. He and Simpson said they weren’t surprised by Schultz’s initial announcement to retire, mainly because the chief said he’d hopefully be with the department for three to five years upon his hiring.

He said the department is functioning normally in the transition period with help from Crone, who has served as interim chief before.

“I think the biggest thing is that the daily operations of the department will continue to run the same whether he is here or not,” Brown said.

Residents can watch the FMPD’s Facebook page for information regarding the next Coffee with a Cop session.