Coffee+Cops+Conversation=Confident Community
Wow! What a great way to start a day! Because of the weird hours I put in publishing this infernal blog, I don't usually see sunrise, but today was special. Today I dragged my old carcass out of bed in time to visit the McDonald's store on Harbor Blvd. for the first Coffee With A Cop event.
I arrived early, but not earlier than this cadre of Costa Mesa's finest who had already arrived in anticipation of greeting McDonald's visitors and being available for conversation.
The best guess I heard shortly after 10 a.m., when the event was theoretically over and just before I departed, was that more than six dozen folks enjoyed coffee on the CMPD - I was one of them - and several more spent time visiting with the officers who had taken time out of their busy day to meet with residents and others and to listen to them.
At one point it seemed like Chief Tom Gazsi and the entire command staff was present - good thing no crimes were being committed during those couple hours, huh?
CANDIDATES ATTENDED
Local political candidates made appearances. Tony Capitelli showed up early, then left for work in Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's office.
Jay Humphrey showed up with grand kids in tow - and astride.
Councilwoman Wendy Leece was the only current member of the City Council or either of the commissions to show up. Not surprising, since the council majority and many of their appointees have, shall we say, a "strained" relationship with the CMPD. I did see majority supporters Tea Party Tom Pollitt and Jeff Arthur, though.
From my perspective and based on conversations I had - I was there for more than two hours - it seemed like the folks who had a chance to visit with one or more of the officers appreciated their presence and answers to their questions. It was a terrific opportunity for the members of the CMPD to have non-stressed, non-confrontational encounters with members of the public. With the diminishing of staffing levels over the past few years, those opportunities are fewer and farther between these days.
GRACIAS...
Thanks to the CMPD and McDonald's for hosting this event. I'm looking forward to many more.
Labels: Coffee With A Cop, Harold Weitzberg, Jay Humphrey, Tom Gazsi, Tony Capitelli
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 7/15/2014 01:06:00 PM
5 Comments:
Thank you, Geoff, for the report! It sounds like this was a very positive and supportive gathering between our PD and residents!
How authentic a police visit could this have been, though ... I didn't see any doghnuts! ;-)
There might have been some doughnuts, but I'm sure there were no doghnuts.
Nuts!! My sister from Gainesville, FL, showed up last night and I could not attend. I owe Chief Gazsi a cuppa coffee and some chatter about machine shop practice -- "shop talk", it's called.
The good Chief is a member of the Orange County Model Engineers, and was thus a very trustworthy recipient for a donation I made to them when they suffered all that vandalism. --Guess I'll have to see him at another venue.
Of course Tea Party Tom was there, he had nothing better to do considering he got blown out of the water in this most recent election. Maybe next time he'll get the votes, but not likely.
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