National Coffee with a Cop Day

Description

Community members and Charleston Police Department officers will come together for National Coffee with a Cop Day at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4 at the Charleston Area Alliance, located at 1116 Smith St. 

Coffee with a Cop brings police officers and the community members they serve together–over coffee–to discuss issues and learn more about each other. In a short time, community members and police officers get to know each other and discover mutual goals for the community they work in and serve. 

The event gives police officers opportunities, outside of crisis situations, to relax and chat with citizens in the community, while it provides community members access and opportunity for distraction-free conversations with local officers.

Coffee with a Cop began as a grassroots initiative in March 2011 in Hawthorne, Calif. to better understand the needs and concerns of community residents. Since then, Coffee with a Cop’s mission of breaking down the barriers between police officers and the citizens they serve has successfully spread to all 50 states and nine countries.

National Coffee with a Cop Day is a day dedicated by the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services Office to encourage communication and positive interactions between law enforcement agencies and the public. The Day began as part of National Community Policing Week in 2016 and now continues each year the first Wednesday in October, furthering efforts nationwide to bridge the gap between the community and the law.