October 3rd marked the 2nd annual Coffee with Cops in Laramie. Where, living up to its rather delightfully informative name, community members and local police were able to sit down, discuss, and ask questions about whatever they wanted.
Coffee with a Cop was conceived in Hawthorne, California in 2011 by the local police department as a way of getting to know the members of the community that they patrolled on a daily basis. Since the abandonment of foot patrols in the mid-1970s, it is often argued that police officers in some areas have become increasingly detached from their local neighborhoods. Indeed a Bureau of Justice Assistance report published all the way back in 1994 predicted that shifting demographics and new, less personal methods of policing would lead to residents being more wary of law enforcement. Coffee with a Cop is designed to establish trust between various community members via a throwback to the old stereotype of the friendly, donut-munching neighborhood cop.
Worries about growing detachment between officers and their communities may be more of a reality than previously thought. Gallup in 2015 conducted a poll which indicated that only 52% of the population have “a great deal or quite a lot of trust” in the police. A significant decline since a 20-year high of 64% posted in 2004. In the same report, Gallup indirectly corroborates the claims of the nearly 20 year old Justice Assistant by tracing the causes of declining confidence between a cooling of relations between officers and their communities.
If cool relations is the problem, then maybe hot coffee isn’t a bad place to start. Lt. Gwen Smith argues that such community events will make policing accessible again.
“Police officers’ primary duty is to serve the community that they live in,” Smith said. “It’s important for us to give the community every opportunity to tell us things they like or don’t like, or just ask us questions that they wouldn’t normally come to the police stations to ask. So, I think it’s important for us and for the community to be able to build that communication and understanding of what each side is looking for.”
The Coffee with Cops initiative is now a national event supported by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in the U.S. Department of Justice. Over 10,000 events have been hosted across all 50 states since the program’s inception in 2011. As well, the phenomena has taken hold in other heavily caffeinated countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the Netherlands.
This year’s festivities were divided into two different sessions. Around 100 people turned out to the first, then around 30 more at the second. The first being at Starbucks on Grand Avenue and the second being at Coal Creek Coffee’s uptown location.
If you happened to miss this event, Lt. Smith would like to offer the reader some amount of conciliation, pointing out that throughout the year various departments will be holding their own events.
