Law enforcement and community come together

Coffee with a Cop is a national initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Similar events are being held across the county as local police departments strive to make lasting connections with the communities they serve.

Lemoore Police Officer Kody Rogers said the event brings together the department, other law enforcement agencies, the community and sometimes city leaders to just get together and talk.

It doesn’t have to just be talking about problems either, Rogers said. He said just sitting and chatting for a while helps build relationships and shows that officers are invested in the communities they serve.

Most of the time, Rogers said the people he talks to just want to know what’s going on in the city, especially concerns in the neighborhoods where they live. He said officers have no problem letting citizens know what to watch out for because working together helps keep the city safer as a whole.

“It allows us to be more in touch with our citizens,” Rogers said. “Being a small department, we thrive off our community’s success and our relationship with our community.”

Having been born and raised in Lemoore, Rogers said it important for people to know that officers are there for residents, because they are members of the same community.

“We’re humanizing the badge and letting people know that we’re not just what you see out there, we are people,” Rogers said. “We’re people behind this badge; we’re just like you in the community.”

Not only is meeting new people great, Rogers said he enjoys seeing familiar faces like former teachers or coaches and talking to them. He said there’s a lot of pride in helping protect the people who had an influence on him growing up.

“It’s something they know they can trust,” Rogers said

Rogers said people only see snippets of what law enforcement officers do and go through, and he wants people to know there’s many more ways officers stay involved.

“We encourage people to come down and talk to us,” Rogers said.

The department has hosted several Coffee with a Cop meetups and Rogers said the turnout is always great. He said about 100 people showed up Friday morning.

It also helped that the American Legion serves breakfast every Friday morning at the veteran’s building.

Bill Overby, commander of the American Legion Post 100 in Lemoore, thought the event was a great idea and was not surprised by how well it went.

“I was very, very happy with it,” Overby said. “It served its purpose, I think.”

In fact, Overby said several officers routinely stop by on other Friday mornings to chat with residents during the breakfasts.

Overby said it seemed like anyone who had an issue was easily able to get it addressed by an officer during the event. He said Coffee with a Cop was the perfect venue to get one-on-one interaction with law enforcement.

“You open up a lot more if you feel like it’s in confidence with them,” Overby said.

Overby considered the event a success and said the police department is welcome to host Coffee with a Cop anytime at the building.

Representatives of the California Highway Patrol, Kings County Sheriff’s Office, Kings County Probation Department, District Attorney’s Office and Lemoore city leaders and staff were on hand at the event.

Don Tripp, Commander of the Hanford area CHP, said in recent years there has been discord and tension between all law enforcement agencies across the nation and the communities they serve.

Tripp said events like Coffee with a Cop are like the grassroots efforts where officers go out into the community, meet new people and build trust

“This is where ideas are formulated, people meet one another, we form partnerships and then we figure out how to solve problems at a local level,” Tripp said. “It’s just a great avenue to do that.”

People don’t always go to the officers for information, so this is a way for officers to be accessible to citizens, transparent, responsive to community concerns.

“All of us live in the community, we’re all part of the community, our families live here — we are the community,” Tripp said.

Luckily, Tripp said Kings County cities and communities have more of a small-town feel and are very supportive of law enforcement in general.

“I love Kings County,” Tripp said. “It gives us great pride to serve the people of this community.”