Students and campus police officers gathered for hot coffee and pastries on Wednesday in the Alumni Lounge. The event, “Coffee with a Cop,” was a kick off to this month’s National Campus Safety Awareness Month, which emphasizes the importance of safety on campuses nationwide, and how building relationships between students and officers will help create a safer community.

“I think this is important for National Campus Safety Awareness Month because I think it’s important for the community to know that police officers are approachable,” said Chief of Police Tracy Mooney. “We’re a microcosm of society, we’re just like everybody else. We reflect what we see in the campus community and I think it’s just really important to have relationships and collaborate with the student body in the campus community.”

An essential part of building relationships is for campus officers to be open to students’ questions about criminal justice careers, policies and laws. Events like this open that window of opportunity to pull campus police officers aside and ask tough questions, while getting first-hand knowledge about a career a student could be pursuing in law enforcement. It’s also a great way to get freshman students involved on campus and learn their new campus environment.

Maria Torti, a Freshman criminal justice major with a concentration in police science, embraced the learning experience.

“Coming here is a great opportunity because it’s a great start to meeting all different police officers and seeing what the career is all about,” Torti said. “I think this just sounded like a lot of fun. So, I just thought it was a good opportunity and a good way to get involved.”

In collaboration with the student organization, American Criminal Justice Association, the University of New Haven Police Department wants to keep the National Campus Safety Awareness Month going. They will be hosting the Annual Safety Walk next Tuesday (Sept 25) at six o’clock in the German Club. Students are welcome to come voice their opinions on safety-related changes and voice their campus concerns. Come join our campus police officers for pizza, refreshments and quality conversation about staying safe in our campus community.