Coffee with a Cop

Beat Intro
Voiceover
00:00	This is the Beat – a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest 
community policing topics facing our nation.

Interview
Tawana Waugh
00:08	My name is Tawana Waugh and on behalf of the COPS Office, I’d like to 
introduce you to Sergeant Chris Cognac from Hawthorne California Police 
Department. Sergeant Cognac is here today to talk with us about Coffee with a 
Cop. Can you tell us a little about the motivation behind your idea to create Coffee 
with a Cop, as well as what your chief said when you first pitched this idea of 
officers sitting down to talk to citizens over coffee?

Sergeant Chris Cognac
00:35	The motivation behind Coffee with a Cop was basically to try and communicate 
with the community. I didn’t invent the concept. We had heard about Coffee 
with a Cop, but nobody knew anybody who had done it; maybe it was like an 
older program. So we just said, OK, we’re just going to do it. We didn’t know 
how to do it, so we just went out, and….I was empowered enough by the chief 
who just said, make it work. So we did, and we kept it simple and it’s blossomed 
into something that’s been fantastic for us. It’s really helped build bonds within 
our community.
	
Tawana
01:06	What was the most difficult part of planning the first one? Was it finding a 
location, advertising to the public, getting officers to participate? What were some 
of the issues you dealt with?

Chris
01:16	All of those were issues. You know, we wanted to find a location that was 
inviting and friendly. We didn’t want to do it at the police department because if 
you’re at the police department the barriers are up. We wanted it to be neutral. 
We chose McDonald’s because it’s family friendly. It was in an area that was 
conducive to us; it was by a freeway on ramp. McDonald’s management was 
very happy to do it and they have pretty good coffee. So it actually worked out 
well.

	 As far as the buy-in from the officers, initially they were a little bit skeptical. 
They were like, “Wait a minute, you want us to go have coffee?” So I had to 
kind of explain it. Once they did it the first time they were like, “Hey, yeah, this 
is pretty cool.”  And now, it’s so funny, the last one that we did last week, I had 
more cops than I knew what to do with. I almost thought I had too many, ‘cause 
they just come.

Tawana
02:03	Tell us about that first event in Hawthorne. What was it like? Were the 
conversations what you would have predicted?

Chris
02:09	They were exactly what I wanted it to be. Coffee with a Cop—the concept is, 
you know, it’s cops. We have neighbors that know you’re cops and they always 
give you the, “You know, I always wanted to know this….” This kind of 
question. That’s what Coffee with a Cop is; it’s the nagging question that people 
want to know about or, “Hey, I got pulled over by this guy and I really don’t 
understand why this happened.” We’ll give them those explanations. Also, we 
provide lots of resources, and we listen. The important part of Coffee with a Cop 
is to listen to everybody.

Tawana 
02:40	In the last 6 months, you’ve not only run more events in Hawthorne, you’ve talked 
to lots of officers across the country who are interested in starting their own 
programs. What do you think is the appeal of Coffee with a Cop that leads to those 
phone calls and emails?

Chris 
02:56	I think the appeal of Coffee with a Cop is, first of all, it’s modern-police budget 
friendly. It costs nothing. And then, its beauty is its simplicity. It’s flexible. You 
can do it in any part of the neighborhood.  It doesn’t require much more than a 
tablecloth and some handouts. And it removes the barriers between the police 
and the community that always exists due to officer safety issues or cultural 
issues. 

	Nine times out of ten when you’re dealing with the police it’s in some sort of 
adversarial contact, whether it’s a traffic stop or we’re in somebody’s house 
because of a domestic dispute. Well, that’s not the best time to sit down and say, 
“Well, how do you feel?” This is allowing people to just really get the bonds with 
the police.

Tawana 
03:39	Looking forward, what is your dream for Coffee with a Cop, both in Hawthorne 
and nationally?

Chris 
03:45	In Hawthorne, I just want it to continue as it is. We’ve been doing it for about a 
year and a half every 6-8 weeks and it’s just been fantastic. Nationally, I would 
like to see it on par with National Night Out, to get buy-in from a large 
corporation, and to have a Coffee with a Cop Day where, like, maybe 
McDonald’s or somebody could say, “On this day, all of our McDonald’s are 
open for the police,” and the local police departments would have officers there 
and you can come talk about anything that you want.

	The key with that is that we also give them honest answers. I tell people right up 
front, “I may not be able to give you the answer you like, and I may not be able 
to fix your problem, but I’m going to listen and I’m going to be honest.” If we 
can do that once a year, I think it’s a great goal.

Tawana 
04:26	Well, thank you so much, Sergeant Cognac, for providing us with your expertise 
and time.

Chris 
04:30	Thank you very much, Tawana, for having me.

Tawana 
04:31	Alright.

Beat Exit
Voiceover: 	
04:33	The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice COPS 
Office. The COPS Office helps to keep our nation’s communities safe by giving 
grants to law enforcement agencies, developing community policing publications, 
developing partnerships, and solving problems.


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