Coffee, Conversation, Community Connection

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Officers, business owners, and community members came together in downtown Rapid City for coffee, conversation, and connection.

' Coffee with a Cop' is a monthly meeting open to anyone in KOTA Territory to keep them informed and invested in our community’s well-being.

“These meetings are really for business owners or community members to come down and talk about what’s going on in the downtown area, things that maybe the police departments are working on, or things that the business owners bring up that we can focus on or help address and answer questions,” said RCPD Patrol Captain Andy Becker.

“One of the common reoccurring themes that we deal with down here at the ‘Coffee with a Cop’ meetings is some of the issues related to houselessness, poverty, and crime within our community and it seems like many times we have a lot of people that will come and talk about the problem, but we don’t hear about the solution,” said Lila Mehlhaff, the board director for Friends of the Children.

On Tuesday, they brought solutions.

Representatives from 2 impactful organizations in the community came to share their mission.

“OneHeart and Friends of the Children are making a real impact in our community, and we just want to share so people know there is work being done,” explained Mehlhaff.

Law enforcement hosts these events every month at ‘The Hive’ to encourage community engagement.