If you’ve noticed more St. Cloud Police officers hanging out at parks, the library, or, like last Friday night, playing bingo at Bubble Pops boba café, then you’ve encountered the SCPD’s new Community Engagement Unit.
The team of six officers funded by a Department of Justice COPS Grant received last year is the department’s way of connecting with residents on a personal level.
“People should feel at ease with us,” Officer Andrew Sullivan said. “They should be able to ask us questions, share their concerns, or, if they see that we're not doing something that they think that we should be doing, they should be able to talk to us. So, we're trying to make these more engaging opportunities for people to just come out, say hi, get to know us, and see that we're not scary people.”
The officers read at the library, go to the Boys & Girls Club, make appearances at all the parks, check on senior citizens, and attend the monthly markets. “We're trying to find people where they're at,” Sullivan said. “We're finding all the popular spots. At one of our last events, somebody posted on our social media, ‘Hey, you should come and have it with us.’ It was just as simple as that. [Bubble Pops] is a local business. It's not the biggest place in the world, but it's fun, it's engaging, and people like to come here. So that's where we go.”
Chief Douglas Goerke is the driving force behind the initiative.
“I always say that the first time a police officer is talking to somebody should not be asking for their ID,” he said. “We talk about it all the time. We have such an amazing community, and the fact that we get our police officers out to actually interact with it, with our youth, with our children … what a difference.”
“The police, we're not just a surgical sledgehammer,” Goerke said. “Our job is to partner with our community to potentially ward off those bad individuals, or potentially help some children that are maybe going down the wrong path and get them back on the right path. Jail is not always the right option. I want them to come and check on them, and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ‘Hey, you probably shouldn't be hanging out with these guys. Why don't you come hang out with us?’ That's what it's all about.”
The Community Engagement Unit will be at the “National Night Out” event at the St. Cloud Lakefront Oct. 1 from 4-7 p.m. for an evening of games, safety presentations, live DJ, food trucks, touch-a-truck displays, and more. On October 2 from 9-11 a.m., they, along with members of SCPD administration and Chief Goerke, will be at “Coffee with a Cop” at Vanessa’s Coffee Shop to connect with the community and answer questions.
