It's been a tough couple of months for law enforcement; the murder of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge caused sadness and outage nationwide.
Those incidents placed an emphasis on the need for better relations between the public and police.
Hoping to do that, Martin County deputies held a ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event on Friday.
At a McDonald's in Hobe Sound, strong coffee met even stronger opinions when it comes to law enforcement.
“Everybody thinks that the cops are the bad guys, but they're not,” resident Phil Baxter says.
Today caffeine and conversation went hand in hand.
Martin County sheriff's deputies sat down with residents to have an honest, open conversation.
Deputies listened to every concern these folks had - no matter how big or small.
“They rather have a one on one face to face, and this gives everybody the opportunity to come - kind of have an open stage, open mic,” says Martin County Deputy Kyle Ludlow.
Resident Pam Brasch says the current events concerning law enforcement nationwide serve as a flashback to the unrest of the 60s.
“Police officers were looked at as the bad part of life,” Brasch says.
Today those relations are once again strained.
Brasch made candy bags, handing them out to Martin County deputies.
It’s a small, sweet gesture that she says conveys a larger meaning.
“There are people out there that still truly care about what they do for us every single day,” she says.
In between the coffee, candy and conversation are moments of outreach that go a long way to bridging the gap during a turbulent time.
“We can't do it without the community,” Deputy Ludlow says. “We hope to grow stronger as a community and go forward.”
