March 31, 2015
‘Coffee with a Cop’ starts April 9 at Student Center
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Department of Public Safety is joining a national movement designed to build positive relationships between police and citizens.
SIU is launching the “Coffee with a Cop” initiative on campus, encouraging the public to stop by Starbucks in the Student Center between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 9, to meet and talk with some of the campus officers. There won’t be an agenda, speeches or any formalities that morning, simply coffee and conversations, officials said.
“SIU is joining a nationwide program designed to facilitate conversations between law enforcement officers and citizens. The United States Department of Justice has promoted this program throughout the country. We will have several officers at Starbucks that day to speak with anyone wishing to do so,” Allan Willmore, sergeant with the SIU Department of Public Safety, said.
There will be free coffee, while it lasts, and everyone is welcome to come meet some of the campus officers, share concerns, ask questions or just get acquainted.
Willmore said the plan is to have Coffee with a Cop about once a month during the academic year, with the locations and times to be determined. Updates will be given via the SIU Facebook page, Twitter, and on the Department of Public Safety website.