August 2025 | Vol. 11 Iss. 8
FREE
See Inside...
od Special Fo n io Edit
West Jordan
Future Farmers
One summer program raises sheep, goats and pigs Page 6
Food Truck League
How these trucks changed Utah’s dining culture
Page 18
Cookies with a Cop building stronger community relationships with local police department By Sienna Chubak | s.chubak@thecityjournals.com The West Jordan Police Department held their Cookies with a Cop event on July 9 in Veterans Memorial Park. Editor’s note: In this special edition you’ll find articles related to all things food. he West Jordan Police Department held one of their Cookies with a Cop events on July 9. They began the events three years ago, and they have continued to bring in a large number of families and community members to enjoy their homemade cookies and talk to their local police officers. Sergeant Andrew Hercules said, “It’s a good opportunity just to have people from the community come out, and the cookies specifically, I think, bring families out. And it gives us an opportunity to engage with both the parents who often have questions for us, and we can provide answers, and then it gives us an opportunity to engage with the kids that come out as well.” The WJPD holds the Cookies with a Cop events in relaxed, non-stress environments, such as their Police Community room, local libraries, or parks, such as the Veterans Memorial Park where this event took place. The goal is to have a space for members of the community to interact with their local police officers. Hercules explained, “We have had multiple events where we’ve been able to have an interaction with somebody who genuinely needed to speak with a police officer about something that was happening in their personal life that needed police attention, and this was a good opportunity
T
Officers T. Griffith and S. Hutchings with their homemade cookies. (Sienna Chubak/City Journals)
Thank You
to our Community Sponsors for supporting City Journals
to bring the kids and let them engage with a police officer, while the parent really needed to report a lot of criminal activity that had been happening, they were able to speak with a police officer in that nontense environment. And so we found these to be really beneficial.” As for the events themselves, they have a variety of different departments they bring out. This event was paired with the Motor Division, but they have also had events with the SWAT team and their canines. The kids are able to sit on the motorcycles, hold the shields and interact with the canines to better understand how these police resources are used. “Many of these police officers here are D.A.R.E officers. They’re getting to re-interact with the kids that they just taught during the school year, and now it’s during the summer, and they get really excited to see that officer. But also, some of these kids haven’t had that D.A.R.E. officer yet, but now they have an interaction with them beforehand. It gives them an opportunity to have a familiar face,” Hercules said. Hercules explained that these events are something that the officers are eager to be a part of and many of them will join without being asked to do so. He said, “We have a very supportive community in West Jordan, which is why it’s such a great place to work. And our officers do care about this community a lot.” Even police officers who are off duty will bring their own kids to join in the events. The WJPD holds several Cookies with a Cop events each year and posts about them on the City of West Jordan events calendar and their social media platforms.l