Roxboro Police Department holds Coffee With a Cop

By George Willoughby, The Courier-Times
Original article HERE

Stacy Palmer and Corlis Green talk with Lt. Dan Walker of the Roxboro Police Department at Coffee With a Cop Wednesday.The Roxboro Police Department held Coffee With a Cop at Tricia’s Espresso Wednesday morning in an effort to bridge gaps between the police and the community they serve.

Wednesday was also National Coffee With a Cop Day – but such events are held more often in Roxboro. Lt. Dan Walker said the department tries to hold the event quarterly, depending on the department’s schedule.

Walker said he got the idea to have the event after networking with an officer from another agency when they were both enrolled in the West Point Leadership program through Methodist University in Fayetteville. Walker said department members were brainstorming ideas to bridge the gap between citizens and the police so they decided to bring the event to Roxboro.

“I have been able to meet citizens and address concerns I may have never have had the opportunity to without the event,” Walker wrote in an email.

Stacy Palmer, a Citizen’s Police Academy attendee, and her sister, Corlis Green, attended Wednesday’s meeting.

Palmer said this is her fourth Coffee With a Cop.

“I’m enjoying Coffee With a Cop because it gives me an opportunity to meet with the local police officers on a one-on-one basis – it’s not in a traffic check or anything like that,” Palmer said. “They are in an official capacity, but they’re just meeting with us one-on-one in a comfortable setting and we have coffee.”

Palmer said the event has shaped her view of the department.

“Meeting with them has given me an opportunity to know the officers by name and I know them when I see them,” she said. “People have such a negative connotation of police officers and its nothing like that. They are wonderful to work with and I feel comfortable around them. It’s just amazing and that’s what keeps me coming back. They’re just everyday people like we are.”

Coffee with A Cop was launched in Hawthorne, California in 2011 by the Hawthorne Police Department and has since spread to all 50 states and to Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Latin America, according to the nonprofit’s website.