Eugene Police Department

CRIME & SUGAR?

The Eugene Police Department is turning to an unlikely medium in its efforts to prevent crime: coffee sleeves.

The police department asked approximately two dozen coffee shops if they’d like to participate in a new program to get crime prevention tips out to the community by printing them on coffee sleeves. Eight coffee shop owners quickly agreed, police spokeswoman Jenna McCulley said.

The sleeves will carry tips that are specific to the area where each coffee shop is located, depending on the types of crime that are most common in that neighborhood.

Eugene Coffee Company was the first shop to agree to take part in the program — billed as “Thinking Outside the Cup” — and broke open its first case of 1,000 sleeves on Wednesday.

“I think it’s an important message,” barista Shea Ford said Friday. “A lot of people waste (the sleeves), so why not put an important message on them?”

The tip for the customers of Eugene Coffee Company, located at 1040 Chambers St. in southwest Eugene, is about theft from vehicles:

“There have been over a dozen thefts from vehicles in this neighborhood in the past week! Please lock your car, and don’t leave valuables in it!” the sleeve reads.

Police Crime Prevention Specialist Tod Schneider described the program as part of a “guerrilla marketing concept,” placing an important message in otherwise unused space.

“We are trying to be open to other ways of doing business and reaching people,” Schneider said. “We are trying to get creative.”

For the police department, crime-tip coffee sleeves are cheaper to produce than fliers and will probably garner more attention, he said.

“People are more likely to keep this in their hands for a few minutes,” Schneider said. “Anything that gets people to stop and think about this topic is a success for us.”

The prevention specialist said the department will continue to develop the messages on the sleeves as crime issues arise in the neighborhoods adjacent to participating coffee shops.

Police Officer J. Christopher Kilcullen, Eugene Police Department ...

This Web site is funded in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this Web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

Management review of the Eugene Police Department

Criminal law and practice of the State of New York

SPIN

Bloodstain pattern analysis, with an introduction to crime scene reconstruction

Strategic copy editing