Weaver Street Market cancels Coffee with a Cop event after public raises questions
A Triangle food co-op is facing questions after canceling a get-together with local police this week, but it’s also getting support from people who question the national Coffee with a Cop program.
Nearly 300 people had responded Monday to Weaver Street Market’s Facebook announcement that the Coffee with a Cop event at its Carrboro store was canceled. The member-owned co-op also has stores in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and downtown Raleigh.
The market’s post thanked the community “for speaking up” about the event, scheduled to take place Wednesday morning, but did not explain the decision to cancel it. Minutes from recent board of directors meetings also provided no additional details.
The Facebook post said WSM officials would re-examine the policy for future events. A spokeswoman said in an email that general manager and market founder Ruffin Slater would provide more details later Monday.
Carrboro police posted Monday on Facebook that a new date and location for the event is in progress. The department learned about negative feedback leading to the cancellation in an email Friday from Weaver Street’s manager, Police Chief Chris Atack told The News & Observer.
The department’s Coffee with a Cop program started in 2013 and has included events at several local coffee shops, including Weaver Street, Open Eye Cafe and Gray Squirrel Coffee Co. The pandemic shut down the program, which restarted in January, Atack said.
“I think with any sort of engagement, you’re always trying to evolve,” Atack said, adding that his own interactions with police as a young man help him understand some community members’ mistrust.
“It’s easy to hit the mainstream. It’s a little more challenging to find the sweet spot in how do we engage folks who aren’t necessarily inclined to go to Coffee with a Cop,” he said.
‘Copaganda’ or police-public dialogue
Critics charge that so-called “cop-aganda” events, like Coffee with a Cop, make police look “harmless and friendly,” while failing to reach Black and brown community members who are most affected by bad policing.
It’s an important conversation to have, Carrboro resident and Weaver Street member-owner Elizabeth Waugh Duford said. She heard about Coffee with a Cop from another member-owner and contacted Weaver Street for more details, she said, learning later that it was canceled.
In many ways, Coffee with a Cop is “a little disingenuous,” said Waugh Duford, who is white. Weaver Street Market has a reputation as a safe space for everyone, and as such, it needs to think more deeply about its role in hosting such events amid concerns about policing.
Black, brown and immigrant community members especially “are folks who are often fearful of the police or have very negative interactions with them, so unfortunately, while I think it would be great if it could be just kind of a harmless conversation, it’s really not, because the police do harm communities of color and low-income communities on a regular basis,” she said.
She suggested Weaver Street instead reach out to Black and brown employees and members for their thoughts, and also to local organizations that represent those groups, especially since most critics commenting on Facebook appear to be white people.
“I think it’s an oversimplification to say that Weaver Street canceled this, that means they’re canceling the police, they’re part of cancel culture, this is a woke mob,” Waugh Duford said. “This is about a community saying we’re not sure this is exactly how we want our co-op to be initiating this conversation, and here are some other people that need to be at the table.”
Aisha Sanders, a Durham resident and Weaver Street member-owner, doesn’t have a problem with Coffee with a Cop or Weaver Street’s decision, she said, but she would like to see the controversy lead to positive dialogue between the public and the police.
Part of the solution is easing mistrust, especially among people of color who feel safer speaking out — and less concerned about being shut down — in spaces with others who share their concerns, said Sanders, who is multiracial. At Weaver Street, it may be that “people are voicing their concerns because they do care about the community, but they’re hindering (overall) progress.”
“I feel fine there, and part of it is my upbringing. I’m used to being the only speck of color in an entire school, so I’m OK, because it’s got to start somewhere,” Sanders said. “People that do feel safe being in these spaces, I think they do need to be there. People who do not feel safe, we need to have venues that they do feel safe in.”
Chapel Hill, Hillsborough events
The Coffee with a Cop program started in California in 2011 as a way to bring law enforcement and the public together in a neutral setting to build better relationships and give the public an opportunity to ask questions and share concerns. The events are now held in communities around the country and the world.
In Orange County, Chapel Hill police also hold events throughout the year, including at Starbucks, Imbibe, Fifth Third Bank, Sutton’s Drug Store and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, spokesman Alex Carrasquillo said.
The Weaver Street Market in downtown Hillsborough hosted Coffee with a Cop events a few times a year before the pandemic, Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton said. More recently, his officers have held events at the McDonald’s on South Churton Street, where they also help out with the drive-through, he said.
That “has been fun for (police officers) and people seem to really like it,” Hampton said.
Coffee with a Cop events are opportunities to hear from people and build trust with the community, Atack said. He welcomed fresh ideas, but added there’s very little that police officers can do about problems in other cities.
“There’s always going to be opportunities for other ways to do it, and we’d love to hear it if folks out there have ideas, because I’m always willing to sit down, chat, talk, explore, hear from folks and their experiences, because it’s important,” Atack said.
