Photo courtesy of Erin Mullen.
Vestavia Hills Cop Stop provided desserts and goodies for police officers to celebrate Easter.
It’s not often that having six to eight on-duty police officers in your home is a positive thing, but for Vestavia Hills resident Erin Mullen, it is a wonderful thing.
Mullen is responsible for bringing Cop Stop, an effort to provide on-duty police officers with a home-cooked meal, to the Vestavia Hills area.
“This is just a way to show that we support them while serving them,” Mullen said.
Cop Stop began in Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, when founders Joanna and Bob Young were looking for a way to support their local police department.
“They need to know that their community supports them,” Joanna said.
She said the project began when an officer helping with school dismissal traffic asked if he could bring a steak by and have Bob cook it as part of the family’s Friday night steak night.
After instead inviting the officer to join her family for dinner, Joanna said the idea began to spread, and after coordinating with local police departments, the project has grown to around 18 dinners a month, with even more breakfasts and lunches.
Mullen, who is friends with the Youngs and watched Cop Stop grow while she lived nearby, moved to Vestavia Hills last summer, and decided when she arrived that she wanted to bring the project to her new home.
“[Cop Stop] is serving those who serve us,” Mullen said. “It’s been really fun to watch it grow here in Vestavia as people have, without many questions at all, just joined in.”
Mullen also started with a steak and potatoes dinner for the Sunday evening shift of officers, after approaching VHPD Captain Kevin York about the program.
Mullen said at first, York and others were surprised and asked her, “Why?”
“Why not?” she said she responded.
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to work,” York said, “we’re not used to that, that’s never happened before,” but added that after communicating back and forth with Mullen and seeing officers’ appreciation of the first event, officers have been very supportive of the idea.
“I would venture to say, safely, that it is a big hit with everybody,” he said.
So far, the Vestavia Cop Stop has grown to one to two dinners per month, with additional special events as well.
For Easter, the group set out a spread of cookies and pastries at the dispatch office large enough to feed 24 hours’ worth of shifts.
When she was in need of a few more items to feed the 30-40 expected officers, Mullen said she reached out to local businesses such as Marta’s Bakery and Klingler’s European Bakery and Café, as well as Starbucks, and the businesses were more than willing to pitch in to help serve the officers.
“Am I some person who loves to cook? No,” Mullen said. “I’m a mom, I can make a meal. Simple enough, right?”
Mullen said Cop Stop provides residents who are already looking for an outlet to give back to officers a way to serve.
She said she thinks that the program aligns with the police department’s mission to be more familiar with Vestavia residents.
“I think their goal is to connect with the community more, and I think this is meeting that need,” she said.
York echoed her thoughts, saying that since Chief Dan Rary arrived, the department has been trying to be more transparent and interact more with the public.
“Any time you interact with the police department, you get to know the inside track on them: that they’re just people,” York said. “They have families, they have likes and dislikes, they have varying experiences in life, and I think the more that you get to know us, the less of a mystery we become.”
Not only does Cop Stop give officers the chance to get to know residents, but it also allows residents to know their officers on a personal level.
It’s not about getting out of a ticket, Mullen said, which is what some people may think when they first hear of the program.
“We don’t talk about ‘cop stuff,’” she said, “we talk about life. We talk about their families.”
She said engaging officers in a positive way is particularly important in light of recent events around the country.
“The voice of support is just not as loud as the negative voices,” she said.
Mullen said she hopes to see Cop Stop grow outside of Vestavia Hills and into the surrounding Birmingham community.
“Vestavia compared to Memphis is like a little safety bubble, Vestavia compared to Birmingham is a little safety bubble, so I hope it grows,” she said.
Those interested in participating in or hosting a Cop Stop event can find more information on the group’s Facebook page.
