Many U.S. police offers have been trying to establish good community relations with their citizens in addition to building on the ones already present.

The Oswego State University Police is looking to do the same through the Coffee with a Cop event, held in the Lake Effect Café once every semester.

Oswego State officers first established an event like this in the Marano Campus Center about three years ago, according to University Police Chief John Rossi. Previously, it was only a table setup where students could come up and chat with officers about their concerns or ask general questions about police work. The turnout was less than impressive, Rossi said, so they decided to move the event to the Lake Effect Café and become part of National Coffee with a Cop Day.

Wednesday, Oct. 4 was the second annual National Coffee with a Cop Day, where people from all over the U.S. could visit their local police department in addition to casually chatting with officers, and have a cup of coffee and a doughnut too. The national organization’s website said the event first started in Hawthorne, California and is now recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice. They officially declared the first Wednesday in October as the date for the annual event and has had events in all 50 U.S. states and nine different countries.

“It’s a community policing initiative [for citizens] to get to know our jurisdiction a little bit better and hear everybody’s comments, concerns and suggestions,” Rossi said.

Since the event’s move to the Penfield Library cafe, University Police has seen a major increase in involvement.

“We actually had to re-order our coffee three different times because we had such an increase in people coming over and spending time with us, compared to the times we did it in Marano Campus Center,” Rossi said.

University Police joined the national organization because officers felt it was an effective method of getting to know the students personally and hear about their concerns. They are here to serve those that attend Oswego State and want to become closer to those in the campus community, in addition to being resources for assistance with other issues outside of law enforcement.

“Officers do enjoy interacting with citizens, and you have to remember that all officers are citizens themselves,” Rossi said. “We all have private lives, we’re all part of our communities, and we wouldn’t be in this business if we didn’t enjoy reaching out to our community.”

The most commonly asked questions at the Oswego State events are about the parking situation. Numerous students are annoyed that there are not enough spaces to park their vehicles on campus, and Sergeant Rich Sherwood says it is because nobody wants to walk long distances to get to class.

“Everybody wants to park right next to their building and that’s not always possible,” he said. “It’s an easy thing to complain and have concerns about. We do our best to try to enforce it so it’s fair for everyone.”

Establishing good officer-to-student relations is something University Police takes very seriously, and officers feel that events like Coffee with a Cop help to get those concerns from students and make the campus community a safer and happier place.

“Each community is different, and we want to police our community the way our residents and students want it to be policed,” Rossi said. “We are the experts in public safety and we have a lot of resources to bring out into the public. Community policing has proven to lower the crime rate and make the area safer.”

Sherwood also said that having a community that trusts its police can make it safer for everyone.

“If you see something, say something. We can’t be the eyes and ears everywhere,” Sherwood said. “The more civilians out there assisting us with our job that we’re called on to do, the safer our community’s going to be.”

It is also very important for students to trust officers to do their jobs. Without dependability, relations fall apart. Oswego State Chief Communication Officer Wayne Westervelt also shared his thoughts on how effective events like these can be in establishing good relations with students and officers.

“It’s very important for our University Police to have really strong relationships with our students, with our staff and faculty so that there’s a confidence level and a reliability effort that they’re here really to serve us and ensure our safety on campus,” Westervelt said.

Photo: Greg Tavani | The Oswegonian