Coffee and bears at SPD

The Shafter Police Department will be holding its next Coffee With a Cop event on Saturday, May 18 from 7 to 9 a.m. at Veterans Park. The last event was held at Shafter Donuts and drew a large crowd.

This event will be outside at the park off of Los Angeles Avenue, able to accommodate a big crowd, with a chance for residents to meet those officers who serve and protect them on a daily basis.

Chief Kevin Zimmermann said that the event has no agenda or speeches, just a chance for the community to ask questions, voice concerns and get to know the officers in your community. The officers will be happy to answer any questions you may have, showing that the relationship between the officers and the community is something that they care deeply about.

A great example of the good relationship the community has for the men in blue is a recent visit the SPD received from a Shafter family. On April 17, the Shafter Police Department received a surprise in the form of several donated teddy bears.

"We are grateful for the donation and we are accepting the Teddy Bears with the hops that they will someday provide some measure of comfort to a child in need," Zimmermann said in receiving the gifts.

Longtime Shafter residents Belton and Brenda Banks came to the department headquarters with their grandsons Nolan and Carter Brown to donate the bears. The Banks expressed sincere appreciation for the dedication and commitment demonstrated by the police in their city.

Chief Zimmermann presented Nolan and Carter with a commemorative Shafter Police Department shoulder patch so that each young man would have a memento from their visit. He said that these types of community interactions are one of the many things "that make Shafter so special."