KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
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The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department held its annual Coffee with a Cop event at Kinship Cafe on Wednesday.
National Coffee with a Cop Day has been a part of National Community Policing Week since 2016 and "continues each year on the first Wednesday in October furthering efforts nationwide to bridge the gap between community and law enforcement," according to a release from KCKPD.
It’s the first year Kinship Cafe, a Kansas City, Kansas coffee shop, has hosted this particular event.
There’s no conversation starter like a cup of coffee, even if that conversation is a difficult one.
"This isn't something that's normal for a Black-owned business to introduce and invite the police to come to their place of business," said TJ Roberts, the owner of Kinship Cafe.
Roberts never imagined he'd be hosting Coffee with a Cop.
"If the younger me was talking to myself today about having a bunch of officers in my place of business — the younger me would have started running, sweating, getting very nervous," he said.
It’s no secret there’s a stigma that follows police officers, particularly KCKPD ones.
"Years past — yes, there was the stigma that KCK was known for violent crime," said Karl Oakman, chief of police for KCKPD. "Not anymore."
It’s true that KCKPD has seen record lows for homicides and violent crimes in 2024.
As of mid-September, there were 16 homicides.
"It honestly breaks my heart to see when we have a homicide, and it's like, 'He was 15.' I'm always like, 'He was a baby,'" said Trekia Nolen, a crime analyst with KCKPD.
"Even though I work for the police department, there’s still kinda that like, 'Ooh, am I in trouble,' you know, and I think that’s just normal," Nolen said.
As a 25-year member of the police department, KCKPD Maj. William Wallace says he's seen an evolution.
"It is our obligation now to fix that perception," Wallace said. "It’s not the same police department of the 60s and 70s."
Wallace formerly worked with the community policing department, but he’s now the division commander for the East Patrol division of KCKPD.
He spends a lot of time recruiting, but that’s come with its challenges.
"One of the hard things for me is having to go out of state to find individuals to come into Kansas City, Kansas, Wyandotte County to do this job," Wallace said. "I wish that we could get folks that live here, that have connections here, that have bonds here to do the job because then, you’ve got some buy-in."
The number-one thing Wallace hears from people is how dangerous the job is.
He doesn’t deny the danger, but he says there’s a need for representation from community members in order to increase trust.
"You’ve got to want to be the change that you want," Wallace said. "We have to have the professionalism to take that trust and not misuse it."
Civilian turnout wasn’t overwhelming on Wednesday, but Oakman says the outreach needs to be.
“We can’t continue to rescue adults, we have to start focusing on the young people, even as early as elementary school with anger management and conflict resolution," Oakman said.
No one expected that age group to show up Wednesday morning, but Roberts hopes they get the change to realize what he eventually did.
"These are human beings just like everyone else," Roberts said.
Even after Wednesday, there’s still plenty to talk about.
"If this conversation never happens, it'll never get better," Roberts said.
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