ANNAPOLIS, Md. — We’re used to seeing them at crime scenes, securing evidence, aiding victims, and trying to track down the bad guys, but police officers are well aware that they’re not always seen as the good guys.
Just ask Sergeant Kris Becker of the Annapolis Police Department.
“I think in some of the communities that we serve, there is a culture of that so we do come in contact with adults, teenagers, children that just have a distrust of the police,” said Becker.
In a bid to show people their human side, officers are prepared to start up a conversation with members of the community over a hot cup of Joe.
They call it ‘Coffee with a Cop’.
“It’s just like talking to a neighbor or talking to a relative or talking to a friend, because essentially that’s what we are,” said Becker, “We are a neighbor. We are a relative. We are a friend. We just happen to wear a uniform to work every day.”
The initial Coffee With a Cop will start on Monday, December 2nd, at 10 o’clock in the morning here at Bitty & Beau’s Coffee on Dock Street in Annapolis.
A cozy atmosphere, light music playing in the background, and opening up over a few cups of coffee, Ashley Muller, says she thinks it’s a good start.
“You want to trust the people are serving and protecting the law,” said Muller.
That means breaking the ice every other Monday throughout the winter having some open and honest discussions, and why not do so over a hot cup of coffee?
“Would you have coffee with a cop?” we asked Muller.
“I would have coffee with a cop,” she replied.
“What would you ask them?”
“I would ask them like every day when they wake up, what makes them want to put on their uniform and like what the end, what the goal is that day, and like when they go home can they lay their head and say that they did everything they could to be on the right side of things?”
