Have a cuppa po-po at Coffee with a Cop

By Susan Elizabeth Shepard, Missoula Independent
Original article HERE

If you wanted to commit a crime in Missoula, 8 a.m. last Thursday morning would have been a terrible time to try your luck downtown—but maybe a great one across town. At least 15 of Missoula’s finest were occupied at the city’s second “Coffee with a Cop” event, held this time in the lobby of the Florence Hotel, with coffee and muffins provided by Posh Chocolat. Citizens were welcome to meet their local officers, detectives and chief of police.

A sandwich sign on the sidewalk, chained to a cinder block, invited passersby. MPD Public Information Officer Travis Welsh acknowledged that the location and time would probably draw people who happened to be in the area already.

“We’d like to move it around, to the Southside, out near Reserve, into Midtown, to get other people out,” Welsh says.

The previous Coffee with a Cop had been at Break Espresso, where there was more of a mix of people, Welsh says. “You could watch people come in specially for it. It’s hard not to recognize a bunch of cops in a room.”

Most of the non-cops in attendance last Thursday were downtown stakeholders, including Linda McCarthy of the Downtown Missoula Partnership and David Bell of ALPS, which owns the Florence and donated the space.

No one used the event as an opportunity to air grievances or protest. “There’s no agenda, nobody’s making political points. We haven’t had anybody come in and express anger, yelling,” Welsh says. “Look around, people are nodding, smiling.” He gestured at a group of three people, all with badges and guns, who were indeed nodding and smiling. And happy to answer questions from anyone, including reporters.

Holly May Senger, a University of Montana junior who runs the sociology department’s Criminology Club, was one of the attending civilians.

“I think it should be more well-attended because I believe I am outnumbered by at least five to one here by law enforcement,” Senger says. She is interested in a career in law enforcement and appreciated the networking opportunity afforded by the event, as well as its outreach.

“I think Missoula, since it is a more liberal city, they tend to be not as friendly to cops. Or just a little less trusting of them. Events like this allow the general public to see them as people versus a badge and a uniform kind of thing,” Senger says.

“It’s a clouded mystery,” says Detective Arianna Adams about the public perception of her work. “People don’t know what we do day-to-day.”

Officer Jake Rosling says he appreciated the chance to explain things to the public that could put them at ease. “That gives them an understanding of, ‘Why did that cop follow me?’ A lot of people think it’s nefarious.” Sometimes, he says, it’s just because they’re driving in the same direction.

Maybe there are people who find that information comforting, but even other cops don’t like seeing a police car in their rearview mirror. “I get nervous, too!” Adams says.