This Thursday, the Thunderbird campus will be graced with a friendly yet unusual presence. As part of a get to know your community initiative, the TSG will be hosting the “Coffee with A Cop” at the Commons during dead hour on 5th December.
The concept is simple. Students get to meet and mingle with the Glendale Police Department personnel in a neutral space to discuss community issues, build relationships, and drink coffee (and perhaps have a cookie or two!). So why do we as students need to interact with members of the police department? For one, the informal environment will remove the physical barriers between students and the police. Two, crisis scenarios can and have routinely define interactions between law enforcement officials and students. By hosting the police on our campus, it allows for a relaxed, informal one-on-one interactions in a friendly atmosphere. As students, this initiative is particularly important for us at Thunderbird, since we bear a diverse and large international student body, with a lot of concerns that students face being very unique to Thunderbird. It also gives the Glendale PD a chance to make us aware of issues they face in the area, or any other concerns that they feel could affect the students as they move about in the Glendale community.
While this is a first here at Thunderbird, the “Coffee with A Cop” initiative itself isn’t new. In over over 175 cities and towns in 36 states across the United States, the “Coffee with a Cop” programs has gone far in creating community trust, police legitimacy and partnership building. The Glendale PD also conducts the “Coffee with a Cop” on a regular basis at various locations around Glendale, which can be found here.
So pull up a chair and grab a cup of coffee & some cookies with them!