Coffee with a Cop and Positive Behavior Citations to Youth
Mar 21, 2015 at 8:16am Edited
This is a really, REALLY great idea. One that a town our size can pull off. Great stuff!
kibbegirl said:
This is a really, REALLY great idea. One that a town our size can pull off. Great stuff!
Thanks @kibbegirl! I'm super jazzed for this to launch and I hope that if we're successful, surrounding towns will start to follow our lead.
I spent some time looking at the national website for the program. I have 2 questions:
How does the program ensure people who are likely to benefit from this actually show up (besides the cops)? I see a bunch of pictures from other communities and in most of them it's a bunch of people who look like they're popping in on their way to bingo chatting it up with cops (Google image "coffee with cops").
If the goal is fostering a community watch, I get that, but (according to the article) the goal is secure "trust and police legitimacy".
Second, how is success measured? I know measuring success is hard because finding concrete metrics isn't easy for something like this but there has to be some measurement occurring nationally if the Feds are putting taxpayer $$ into it.
I hope the questions are received in the way they're offered- some programs are nice "check boxes" to point to and say "look, something was done" and that's the end of it. I am sure it doesn't cause harm but it may cause a false sense of "we tried" thinking.
How does the program ensure people who are likely to benefit from this actually show up (besides the cops)? I see a bunch of pictures from other communities and in most of them it's a bunch of people who look like they're popping in on their way to bingo chatting it up with cops (Google image "coffee with cops").
If the goal is fostering a community watch, I get that, but (according to the article) the goal is secure "trust and police legitimacy".
Second, how is success measured? I know measuring success is hard because finding concrete metrics isn't easy for something like this but there has to be some measurement occurring nationally if the Feds are putting taxpayer $$ into it.
I hope the questions are received in the way they're offered- some programs are nice "check boxes" to point to and say "look, something was done" and that's the end of it. I am sure it doesn't cause harm but it may cause a false sense of "we tried" thinking.
The communities should bring back the Police Officer trading cards.
Both terrific programs to bolster the relationship between police and the community. We used to have many such programs but they were less available after the economy tanked. Great to see them return.
We have the coffee with a cop program in WO and it is great to know we can stop by and get to know the local police and share ideas and concerns at the same time.. I honestly don't think there is any downside and cost is minimal.. And I love the idea of good behavior citations! Teach kids through rewards l, not punishment
@JacksonFusion - all great comments and questions.
Right now we're partnering with community groups and the schools to get the word out. In terms of the goal - it's really all the above - building trust, getting more people in neighborhood watch, having youth associate cops with positive behavior also -- really anything that brings law enforcement and the community together for a common goal.
With respect to measuring success, I really have no idea how to quantify if it's working. But as a side note, I've been sitting at work thinking about that question which has kept me a little distracted but it triggered something in my mind.
Last year when we launched the pedestrian safety campaign (which is still ongoing), I asked the department to increase their involvement with schools and outreach specifically to students. They were open to this and asked if I had any specific places I'd like us to go.
I did... our first stop was the Country Day School. I remember being asked "That's pretty... young... right?" I responded "yes... 3 to 5 year olds". While I'm not sure if they were convinced at first, our traffic bureau came out and spoke to the kids. They all called him "Mr. Policeman". We drew an imaginary crosswalk on the pavement in front of the school for the kids and they learned about looking left, looking right, and looking left and holding hands with an adult - and they practiced. I took a picture of what this looked like (see attached).
I had a Senior Citizens Advisory Committee meeting the next day, and one of our members from West Montrose has a granddaughter who goes to Country Day. She told me that her granddaughter told them about meeting a "Mr. Policeman" and "LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT!!!!" when crossing the street with an adult.
No idea if all the kids will remember everything they learned, but I do know that for many, this was their very first interaction with law enforcement. And that very first interaction was that the police are here to keep you safe. I guess my hope is that it meant something and wasn't just something nice that happened on one day.
I know it's a long story - but just wanted to share.
Right now we're partnering with community groups and the schools to get the word out. In terms of the goal - it's really all the above - building trust, getting more people in neighborhood watch, having youth associate cops with positive behavior also -- really anything that brings law enforcement and the community together for a common goal.
With respect to measuring success, I really have no idea how to quantify if it's working. But as a side note, I've been sitting at work thinking about that question which has kept me a little distracted but it triggered something in my mind.
Last year when we launched the pedestrian safety campaign (which is still ongoing), I asked the department to increase their involvement with schools and outreach specifically to students. They were open to this and asked if I had any specific places I'd like us to go.
I did... our first stop was the Country Day School. I remember being asked "That's pretty... young... right?" I responded "yes... 3 to 5 year olds". While I'm not sure if they were convinced at first, our traffic bureau came out and spoke to the kids. They all called him "Mr. Policeman". We drew an imaginary crosswalk on the pavement in front of the school for the kids and they learned about looking left, looking right, and looking left and holding hands with an adult - and they practiced. I took a picture of what this looked like (see attached).
I had a Senior Citizens Advisory Committee meeting the next day, and one of our members from West Montrose has a granddaughter who goes to Country Day. She told me that her granddaughter told them about meeting a "Mr. Policeman" and "LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT!!!!" when crossing the street with an adult.
No idea if all the kids will remember everything they learned, but I do know that for many, this was their very first interaction with law enforcement. And that very first interaction was that the police are here to keep you safe. I guess my hope is that it meant something and wasn't just something nice that happened on one day.
I know it's a long story - but just wanted to share.
Sheena, thank you for the response.
Your story reminds me of the fire fighters going to see pre schoolers in "full regalia"... Mask, tank, not an inch of human flesh showing- the idea being that if the building is on fire and an unfamiliar "monster" shows up yelling a small child may be frightened and decide to take their chances with the fire and hide from rescuers.
For the goal of drawing a diverse cross section of the town, maybe provide paper maps and just ask people, without any identifying info, to just circle their neighborhood. I get that may rub some reading it the wrong way BUT it would allow you to gauge where to best spend your outreach resources.
As far as measurement- a survey, with pointed questions about views on the police, with pre-paid postage, no identifying marks, that can just be folded over and dropped in a box. "Rate your interactions with police in SO before today 1-5" "Do you view police differently after today 1-5 scale" etc.
That way you'd get a sense of who you are talking to. Someone who came in loving and trusting the cops are unlikely to leave viewing them more poorly after coffee- and that's great, but what you really want is to pull people who don't trust law enforcement both closer to their community and to give them a voice to share their concerns.
Then maybe share the results at next meeting? People want responsiveness- it's hard to stay mad at someone who is listening and trying to make reasonable efforts to accommodate.
Just some things (hopefully helpful) to mull over as you build this out
Your story reminds me of the fire fighters going to see pre schoolers in "full regalia"... Mask, tank, not an inch of human flesh showing- the idea being that if the building is on fire and an unfamiliar "monster" shows up yelling a small child may be frightened and decide to take their chances with the fire and hide from rescuers.
For the goal of drawing a diverse cross section of the town, maybe provide paper maps and just ask people, without any identifying info, to just circle their neighborhood. I get that may rub some reading it the wrong way BUT it would allow you to gauge where to best spend your outreach resources.
As far as measurement- a survey, with pointed questions about views on the police, with pre-paid postage, no identifying marks, that can just be folded over and dropped in a box. "Rate your interactions with police in SO before today 1-5" "Do you view police differently after today 1-5 scale" etc.
That way you'd get a sense of who you are talking to. Someone who came in loving and trusting the cops are unlikely to leave viewing them more poorly after coffee- and that's great, but what you really want is to pull people who don't trust law enforcement both closer to their community and to give them a voice to share their concerns.
Then maybe share the results at next meeting? People want responsiveness- it's hard to stay mad at someone who is listening and trying to make reasonable efforts to accommodate.
Just some things (hopefully helpful) to mull over as you build this out
Frank_the_Tank said:
The communities should bring back the Police Officer trading cards.
Working on it.
Even though I live in Maplewood, I have a 7th grader at SOMS (who had a great experience participating in the SO Junior Police Academy - Summer 2012). I really really love this initiave!! Thank you Sheena.
I like what @JacksonFusion is saying and I would like to be on the list to receive the trading cards. Thank you.
Mar 25, 2015 at 10:22am Edited
Hi All,
Attached is the flyer - please help spread the word and I hope you'll join us for our inaugural Coffee with a Cop.
Attached is the flyer - please help spread the word and I hope you'll join us for our inaugural Coffee with a Cop.
@jacksonfusion - - you just made the program better. We were able to get ahold of a followup survey the national program does that's meant to help them evaluate success and then they distribute that information obtained from attendees back to the local law enforcement agency. Thanks so much for the suggestion.
Just seeing this now! Finally I made an impact that is not unambiguously negative 
Thanks for the update, looking forward to hearing how it all goes!
Thanks for the update, looking forward to hearing how it all goes!
Jackson_Fusion said:
Just seeing this now! Finally I made an impact that is not unambiguously negative
Thanks for the update, looking forward to hearing how it all goes!
MOL adds value! Are you going to make it to the first one on the 23rd?
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Here's a couple new initiatives that you may be interested in.
'Coffee With a Cop' Program to Launch in South Orange
http://tapinto.net/towns/south-orange-slash-maplewood/articles/coffee-with-a-cop-program-to-launch-in-south-or
A date for the first event will be announced next week. I'll post a flyer here that people can share and pass along.
In addition to the program above, our police officers will be issuing "good behavior citations" to youth in the community. This program is made possible with the generous support of Coldstone and Pirates Pizza. If one of our officers observes your child doing something positive, they're going to be issuing citations noting what they observed. The tear off section can be brought to the businesses above for an ice cream or slice of pizza respectively.
These programs came out of working with SOPD/Community Relations Bureau on opportunities to build upon and strengthen the relationship between the community and law enforcement.