Coffee with a cop: A new way to fight crime?

Police often fight not just crime, but also community distrust and disapproval. Now, one growing national effort, Coffee with a Cop, hopes to change people's perception of police with a surprisingly simple approach, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

A recent CBS News poll showed 22 percent of Americans said their local cops make them feel anxious, a number that nearly doubles for black Americans. Those views were the reason cops gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, eager to try out a new approach program.

"We keep the concept bare bones, minimum, simple. No agenda. Go in and talk to people," Capt. Keith Kauffman said.

He and Sgt. Chris Cognac, both officers in Hawthorn, California, created Coffee with a Cop in 2011.

"A cup of coffee is a common bond. It tells people, 'I'm here breaking bread, drinking coffee with you, I'm sitting down on the same level as you,'" Cognac said. "And what to people do when they drink coffee? They talk."

Kauffman and Cognac teach the program around the country and in the Charleston session, 50 cops from five states attended. The goal is to change the mindset of "us versus them" and create something closer to what Norman Rockwell had in mind.

"We drive from call to call in a cocoon, which is a police car. There are days when officers will handle 20 to 30 911 calls in one shift," Cognac said. "There's not a lot of downtime to connect and talk to people at your local mini-mart and get that Norman Rockwell moment."

Charleston police were hosting their first community coffee in one neighborhood where few people ever talk to cops.

"I think a lot of people are afraid," resident Orella Calvary Calvary said. "Talking to them makes them a little more human. They're people just like you and I."

As to which party is more standoffish at the onset of an interaction, Cognac said it's the cops who seem to be a bit scared.

"Sometimes they're not used to just communicating other than 'license and registration' type of business," Cognac said. "We talk about football and baseball and little league and so the cops see the people and the people see the cops as neighbors, and stakeholders in the same community."

Charleston's police chief Gregory Mullen wants his officers taking coffee breaks.

"I think that's what has created a lot of animosity between the police and the community and different perspectives," Mullen said. "We just don't take the time to talk to people."

The Coffee with a Cop program, funded by a division of the Department of Justice, is now part of 650 law enforcement agencies in 47 states.

Charleston Police have adopted the program as a regular part of their community outreach.

"We're trying to establish that relationship, face to face, and create that bond so that the community becomes stronger and they'll have trust enough to tell us what's going on," Kauffman said.

Trust they hope is formed by connecting, one cop, and one cup, at a time.