"Cops and Coffee": Police Talk Turkey and Crime Prevention With Residents

Coffee was on the menu and everything from school safety to turkeys on the agenda as El Cerrito Chief of Police and a roomful of other uniformed officers chatted with residents Saturday morning at a first-of-its-kind event at on Potrero Avenue.

Residents were invited to “” to share ideas and concerns and ask questions. And coming and going in small groups into a room with six to 10 officers, that’s just what they did.

Moir said the event was intended to give officers and residents a chance to build a relationship through conversation in a more relaxed setting than the officers’ daily work normally provides.  Having coffee and food in a local restaurant both adds to the casual feel and offers a boost to a local business, she said.

Looking for new ways to reach out to the public is becoming more common among police agencies, said Moir, and is part of “the way I was raised in law enforcement.”

Moir said she hopes to repeat this type of event several times a year.

The interaction between officers and the public was one hot topic, she said, as was concern about the possibility that the West Contra Costa Unified School District may cut its funding of “school resource officers.” The resource officers are members of local police forces whose presence on school campuses is funded by the school district. has two and one.

Moir and other officers talked about the importance of neighbors contacting the department if they see anything suspicious.  The police chief said neighbors sometimes tell one another about questionable activity but don’t think to tell police until hours later, if at all.

The police do get calls about a wide variety of topics, including deer and the city’s flock of turkeys — like “They’re blocking my car” — which the officers can’t do much about. The department sometimes refers those callers to Contra Costa County Animal Services, but the officers said that department isn’t likely to take action against wildlife either.