On Tuesday local police hosted coffee with a cop in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. This event was not only about meeting the police but also talking about any concerns that students might have.

The police around campus want to make sure that students know about safety measures they can take.

“The purpose of the event is to promote safety or issues about awareness of safety issues relative to right now,” said Lieutenant Michael Lusk. “At the end of the day that police officers are human beings, we are people.”

Police on campus hoped their interactions will have a good impact on the students in the community.

Each year the program takes place to help the community connect to the police and have them answer questions that they have.

“We started this program when I joined this department back in 2002, and the purpose was to gather our students, staff or variety of employees in a location where we can just talk about any topics,” said Chief of Police Marisol Gamboa.

When it comes to safety of students and the things they can do and the resources that are available to them, Gamboa gave an example of the women’s self defense training sessions that are held each semester.

Lucy Ade, student government president said “The entire week is all about both physical and mental safety for all of our EIU students.”

TJ Estabrook is a graduate student in the student affairs programs said, “I think it is important for, especially on a college campus, for students to have a good relationship with police officers.”

Jabria Campbell, a criminal justice major, was also there walking past and said she did not know about the event but decided to “stop in.”

Campbell said, “[I don’t] think a lot of students know about the police department…so it’s good to just know that we have people that are here exclusive for us.”

Karnye Allen can be reached at 581-2812 or at kkallen3@eiu.edu.