Officer wants more people to share their concerns over coffee

It's been just more than 10 months since Officer David Schwindt started Coffee with a Cop, a program where officers share coffee and concerns with the citizens of downtown Iowa City.

With more experience gathered, and a few more mocha coffee drinks consumed, Schwindt is looking to adjust the program to increase participation.

Schwindt hosted three Coffee with a Cop meetings in 2014, where locals met Schwindt and other officers at downtown coffee shops. Schwindt is assigned to the downtown area for the Iowa City Police Department, so it seemed like a natural progression of his job.

The meetings would take place on set dates so civilians could ask questions they may not feel comfortable asking in more formal interactions. "There's no speech, we just get there, introduce ourselves and start talking," Schwindt said.

Low turnout to the events sparked Schwindt to adjust how he put together these events for 2015. Six people arrived at the first event. Besides a group of international students that had arranged to attend the second meeting beforehand, the second meeting gathered one other participant. "We still have to put ourselves out there, though," Schwindt said.

The third Coffee with a Cop, hosted at the Iowa City Area Development Group's building, boasted the largest audience. Thanks to members of the group attending, along with members of other groups connected to ICAD, Schwindt saw a new way of arranging the get together: making plans with groups, be it businesses or school groups, to arrange coffee talks.

"The event offers a real unique conversation," said Eric Hanson, Communication Director at ICAD. "You come to Iowa City and you see it's easy to get plugged in and connected, even with police."

Hanson said their get together featured "a myriad of topics" to discuss. Noting that the grand jury decision not to indict former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown had just happened, Hanson said the meeting featured plenty of engaging conversation.

"There were a lot of high-profile cases last year, so the need for this kind of opportunity, I think, is important," Schwindt said. "None of us police officers come to work to go break people's civil rights. We want to protect the people."

Schwindt wants to host six of these events throughout 2015, but needs more groups to show interest in the opportunity. "I'm pretty flexible. If I need to go to their comfort zone, I will. But coffee shops are good, too, for connecting with people."

"That's what these events foster: connections. They let people understand we're normal," Schwindt said. "You may wear a white lab coat at work, we wear our uniform."

Reach Zach Berg at zberg@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5412, or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.