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Coffee with a Cop Event in Wilkes-Barre

WILKES-BARRE — People looking for a pick-me-up on Wednesday did so in the company of police officers. A few McDonalds restaurants in the area are bringing...

WILKES-BARRE -- People looking for a pick-me-up on Wednesday did so in the company of police officers.

A few McDonalds restaurants in the area are bringing the community and police together with a "Coffee with a Cop" event.

The brew was hot and the coffee was plentiful at the McDonalds on East Northampton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday morning. Several McDonalds in the area are participating in the event to bring police officers and community members together with a free cup of joe.

"A lot of our customers have been thanking the police officers or talking to them about things they feel are important or relevant, so it's been a really, really great thing to do," owner Pat Stella said.

"We're not all big, mean officers. We're all community-related people. We try to help out the best we can," Wilkes-Barre Police Officer Kirk Merchel said.

The officers we spoke to mentioned that they have a strong relationship with the people of Wilkes-Barre. Recent history has shown that some communities and police don't always coexist well. Coffee with a Cop hopes to reconcile any disconnect that may be there.

"Some of the people have forgotten that our police officers are people, too. They're your brother. They're your sister. They're your family members. They're family of family members. They're just people doing their job," said John Vazquez of Bethlehem.

"The community and police need to come to common ground. If police respect the citizens, then maybe in return, the citizens will start respecting the police," said Diedrick Arnett.

And if some of these officers could cheer to something, it would be the continued strong relationship with the local community.

"I'd 'cheers' to that I'm grateful that we do have a good community here and I believe the community does back the Wilkes-Barre Police Department and all of the police departments in the surrounding areas," said Community Policing Officer Robert Collins.

The cops that we have talked to have emphasized that they're simply regular people trying to do their jobs and that it's important that the relationship between the people and police is a strong one.

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