Meet Your Neighbors Initiative
By Captain Wendell Shirley , Santa Monica Police Department
The City of Santa Monica , an 8.3 square mile beachfront city of 94,000 residents , is bordered on three sides by the city of Los Angeles . In the effort to increase community safety , the Santa Monica Police Department continues to recognize the importance and value in simply knowing one ’ s neighbors . In today ’ s busy digital world of Facebook , Twitter and a host of other online social media platforms , the likelihood that the average resident knows their neighbor continues to dwindle . At times , the more digitally connected , the more disconnected from the real world we become .
In October of 2016 , the Santa Monica Police Department ( SMPD ) participated in National Coffee with a Cop Day . The event provided an opportunity for officers to interact with the community in a common space over a cup of coffee . This practice promoted a positive environment in which community members had an opportunity to not only ask questions , but to also get to know the men and women who work for their local law enforcement agency . After a series of events , the Department looked to take this idea one step further and in January of 2017 , SMPD challenged our Santa Monica community to host their own community based events – in essence their own ‘ Coffee with a Neighbor ’ event .
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