Police officers meet with public during Coffee with a Cop

WAIKOLOA — When people entered the Starbucks at the Queens’ MarketPlace recently, they were met by a uniformed police officer.

But they weren’t in trouble: The officer was holding a clipboard for notes — not handcuffs.

“Would you like to have coffee with a cop?” asked Officer May Lee, organizer of the event last week that puts police officers inside coffee shops to mingle with average Joes over a cup of the same name. It’s a national effort that allows people to talk to officers not in an emergency situation as well as something the department hopes to spread across the island, including in Kona in the coming weeks.

Many accepted the offer Wednesday and joined the officers scattered among the tables and started talking story. Topics were varied, including the intricacies of police work, family life and equipment.

Residents Raymond and Natalia Riznyk met with officers Joseph Stender and Robin Crusat Sr.

The residents have lived in a condo for eight years and related the story about how Raymond discovered a man had broken into their house. Thinking it was his wife, he didn’t react until he saw blood. Realizing it was a man, he woke Natalia and the two left, calling for police, which they said took a half hour for officers to arrive. When they did, Natalia, standing wrapped in a comforter, saw them passing and flagged them down.

“I looked like a vampire or something,” she said.

“I can understand how violating it would be to have someone in your home,” Crusat sympathized, adding “not to make any excuses, but (officer) newcomers get to an area, but have to get familiarized.”

Directions, it came out in the course of the conversation, help officers locate spots. They’re not flawless island experts, after all.

“Those little details help. That’s why we tell people not to get discouraged when the dispatcher asks 10 million questions, because a lot of them come from the guys on the road,” Stender said.

The officers relayed their routine working to prevent criminal activity along the populated Alii Drive. There are several places where people group up to commit crimes like smoking marijuana, being disorderly and harassing passersby.

“We stand there,” Stender said, adding if they stay long enough, or talk with the suspicious people, that is often enough to cause them to leave.

The event varied from the previous two events, which were in Waimea and largely involved residents, who chatted up the officers, Lee said. At Queens’ MarketPlace there were more visitors, but it was just as important to engage them. Meeting with officers makes the visitors feel safer and more comfortable, she said.

Some attendees have told her they had never seen a police officer, she said. That’s part of the reason Lee wants to keep the events going and expand them across the island.

“For the community to meet the people they are going to call in an emergency, like a car accident,” she said, because knowing an officer at a more personal level makes traumatic experience less difficult.

Lee has arranged another event for 7:30-9:30 a.m. Friday at the Lava Java in the Waikoloa Village Shopping Center. The Kona District is also preparing an event for the southern part of the district. They will announce the event once it is arranged.

Residents and businesses can request that their community policing section set up an event in their area. That can be done by contacting their local police station or Sgt. Roylen Valera at 326-4646.

“The only way (the public) would know us is if something happens, an arrest or something,” Crusat pointed out about how some of the public sees men and women in blue.

And the program appears to be working.

“We’ve gotten really positive feedback,” said Lee.

Upon leaving their morning coffee partners, the Riznyks parted on the best of terms, too.

“You guys got a hell of a job. There’s no way I could be a cop,” Raymond said, shaking their hands.

“Again, thank you for all you do. If I was billionaire I would pay for all these programs,” Natalia said.

More info: www.coffeewithacop.com.