“Coffee with a Cop” has always been a hit among Kent State students, faculty, and staff members. This event allows Kent State University cops to share a cup of joe with students and interact with them under stress-free circumstances. Coming into the new year, officers wanted to make some changes to the format of the event to strengthen the impact it has on attendees.

“We found that we weren’t able to really spend a lot of time conversing with people, getting to know them, and that was really the reason we started doing Coffee with a cop,” says Kent Police Officer Tricia Knoles.

Hundreds of people come to share a conversation with an officer, but the overwhelming amount of people can put a damper on the time attendees have to make those connections.

“Instead of having large events where we’re getting 200 to 300 students, faculty, and staff, we decided to do several small ones,” Officer Knoles said. “This way we get a little bit more one-on-one time with our students, faculty, and staff.

Holding events like “Coffee with a Cop” help ease the tensions that can sometimes arise between students and on-campus police officers.

“Sometimes people see officers, and it’s typically in a time where they’ve had something happen to them or we’re coming out to talk to them to ask them questions about a crime,” says Officer Knoles. “So this is a nice way that we can actually communicate with our community in a good environment.”

Attendees walk away from the event with a free coffee mug, a full belly and better relationships with the officers that serve the city of Kent.

The Kent State Police Department plans to hold three more “Coffee with a Cop” events throughout this semester. Details about the upcoming events will be available on their Facebook page.