A local event tomorrow afternoon hopes to continue a dialogue between police officers and the community that they serve. It is one of several initiatives to improve police-community relations in South Bend.

Cops, Coffee & Conversation is a casual event that will bring together police officers, community activists, political leaders and citizens.

“We organized the event because of the national attention surrounding Ferguson, New York City and other towns involving their police officers and residents,” says Melissa Marie, the event organizer.

Marie, a local activist and a mother who resides in South Bend, says that officers will be at the event a few at a time throughout the afternoon and evening. Community leaders will also be in attendance.

“We would like to prevent those things from happening here in South Bend by keeping the communication open between cops and civilians and bettering those relationships. This is a good opportunity for people to see cops as human and for cops to see us as human as well,” Marie adds.

Cops, Coffee & Conversation takes place between 1:30 pm and 7 pm on February 12 at Suite 11 in the Emporium Building located at 121 S. Niles Avenue near downtown South Bend just east of the St. Joseph River. The organizers say that light refreshments will be served free of charge, including coffee from Bendix Coffee.

Image Credit: Peter Martin Hall, flickr