Highline hosted Coffee with a Cop as a way for the campus community to bond and create relationships with the police force last week.
Coffee with a Cop is an opportunity for staff and students to learn about what it’s like to be a cop from campus security officers and the local police force. Its purpose is for Highline to get to know that our area law enforcement are humans too and to build communication.
The Des Moines Police department and campus security held Coffee with a Cop in building 8 last week on Wednesday, October 2.
“It is to build communication with students and staff and to know that we are here to help them and to see that we are also human,” said Chief of Police Ken Thomas.
“The goal is to have students and staff feel comfortable with the police and to have a chance to learn about things that they do in their daily job routine,” said David Menke, director of public safety.
A goal that both the chief of police and the director of public safety share is to have more Coffee with a Cop sessions in the future, either once a year or once every quarter, and to expand the program to include the general public.
“We are not just for the campus, it’s also for businesses as well so that people are well aware of how to be safe and to be able to feel comfortable talking to an officer, ” said Chief Thomas.
“We are trying to have events like this every year or at least every quarter so that students can get comfortable being around police and campus security. We are also trying to have a point in time in the classroom and talk about safety,” Menke said.
It is the first time our community has interacted with campus security and the police department of Des Moines after two years of being stuck in a pandemic.
“It’s our first time being able to hold an event like this since the pandemic started and we hope to hold more events like this as often as we can,” said the Chief.
When it comes to campus safety, campus security is here to help students in any way they can, including keeping an eye out for the students that live on campus and help escort them to class.
“Campus View has an office with some of our security officers and they are there to help any student that needs help and just to be more present since Pacific Highway is next to Campus View and just to be able to step in and help,” Menke said.
During the Coffee with a Cop event, both Chief Thomas and Menke gave suggestions on how to be safe on campus and in the community, including to avoid walking out alone in the dark or keep anything valuable out of sight in your vehicle to avoid car theft.
“Keep any valuable objects out of sight in vehicles because of the increase in car theft, and try to avoid walking out alone. Walk with a group of people that you know, avoid walking out in the dark,” said Chief Thomas.
