Sometimes, even the smallest interaction can have a big impact.
Whether it’s a simple wave, or maybe a conversation over coffee, officials from the Clovis Police Department want to build relationships with the community they serve and protect.
“We just want to bring the community together. People have a lot of questions about, say, municipal code issues and a lot of people don’t know how to reach out to the Clovis Police Department to help answer those questions. Events like this can help create some familiarity between us here at the police department and the community,” Cpl. James Ellenberger said.
Whether they are speed laws, updated laws etc., the Clovis PD encourages the Clovis community to reach out.
The police department might be tasked with keeping the City of Clovis safe, but under their uniforms, they are just like us; Clovis community members.
“We’re here to talk and at the very least hang out and share some of our common interests. We all have families, we all have kids and we all joke around,” he said.
Like “Coffee with a Cop”, the Clovis PD does many events around the year in order to promote a healthy connection between the officers that put themselves in harms way and the community that supports and cares for them.
And for Ellenberger, he remembered a time at the Clovis Rodeo that he was able to meet law enforcement officials and now, he’s one of them.
“As a kid, having that interaction with law enforcement in general, not necessarily police officers, but we have chaplains here and other times we have reserves, but it affected me immensely when I was younger,” he said. “They shook my hand and asked me how I was doing and that went a long way.”
Some people want to be police officers and for them, those men and women wearing a badge are like sports heroes.
But, over the years, whether it was “Clovis Night Out”, “Shop with a Cop” or many of the other events thrown by the Clovis PD, each one has been put on with the same goal in mind — promoting a connection between the people of Clovis and the Clovis PD.
“The community events, they are very impactful. The interaction between us and the community is very important and something that we think is beneficial for everyone,” Ellenberger said.