South Orange is introducing two new programs to build more bridges between public safety personnel and the community: Coffee with a Cop and Positive Behavior Citations.
“It should be a nice turnout,” said South Orange Police Chief James Chelel about the first Coffee with a Cop event that will take place at the First Baptist Church on Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. “It’s a nice way for the residents and community to get to meet the officers and get a personal view of who the officers are.”
After watching racial tensions flare across the country this past year due to shooting incidents involving police and minority citizens, local leaders assessed community outreach programs and, while they were pleased with what they saw happening in South Orange, they wanted to take it further.
“The events in Ferguson, Staten Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and elsewhere had a large and emotional impact on so many throughout the country,” wrote South Orange Trustee Sheena Collum in an email. Collum is also the public safety committee chair. “At the local level, it made us think long and hard about the importance of a strong relationship between law enforcement and the community they serve.”
“The Board of Trustees recognized and applauded all the existing programs that the police department had in place to build relationships with residents but we wanted to do even more. We sat down with our Police Chief Jim Chelel and Community Relations Officer Sergeant Adrian Acevedo to discuss what opportunities and new ideas could help us achieve this goal.”
Although the police department was already performing substantial outreach with neighborhood watch groups, the annual Junior Police Academy program and more, Chelel said that two new initiatives were “good ideas.”
Coffee with a Cop is a tried and tested program used in more than 175 communities across the country. Collum said that it “is an informal way for residents to sit down and meet local law enforcement one-on-one, ask questions, and build partnerships.” South Orange’s first Coffee with a Cop event will be take place Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 103 Valley Street. Officer Acevedo and Chief Chelel will be in attendance. Going forward, Coffee with a Cop will take place quarterly.
Positive Behavior Citations focus on the relationship between police and young people. “Police officers will have a ticket book and when they observe kids doing something positive, they’ll issue a citation noting what the behavior was,” said Collum. The ticket will include a coupon that can be redeemed for a slice of pizza at Pirates Pizza or an ice cream at Coldstone Creamery. “We felt that this initiative would lead to a lot more interactions between youth and law enforcement and it’s critical to start at an early age,” said Collum. “We want our officers to be viewed not only as enforcers of the law but people that can be turned to for help and support.”
Sometimes people just see police officers at a difficult time in their lives,” said Chelel. “It’s important to see them at a positive time.”
