LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Police charm offensive: Boba with a badge


Jon King, left, engages with residents at I-Tea Moraga Photo Sophie Braccini

The Moraga police department continues its outreach as a community-based policing service by mingling with residents at favorite hangout places around town. The latest, at I-Tea Moraga, called Boba with a Badge, was well received and allowed the officers to reach out to different demographics.

I-Tea Moraga is part of a small local chain of boba tea restaurants that serve the hot and cold flavored tea-latte concoctions complemented with tapioca pearls that are sucked through a large straw. The popular Moraga location is patronized by young residents and their parents as well as college students.

Some of the usual customers coming to I-Tea with their young children on May 16 somewhat wavered as they spied a large number of uniformed officers inside their favorite tea place. But the relaxed attitude of the officers quickly reassured them. Some stood in line to order their favorite brew, while others reached for the local drinks that the cops were offering and started engaging with the officers.

Moraga Police Chief Jon King says that the idea is to hold these types of public gatherings several times a year, in different coffee shops in town, preferably locally-owned, to support the local economy while enhancing the connection between the population and its police. Lt. Brian South, the second in command in Moraga, adds that it is important to create that contact and familiarity with the officers. He adds with a smile that there are no guarantees of leniency for residents who are stopped for speeding, even if they have shared boba tea with an officer who cites them.

I-Tea Moraga definitely has a different vibe than other more traditional coffee places in Moraga. The boba tea served there is not everyone's ... cup of tea, and some residents that had come to ask questions of the officers were discovering the place for the first time. They tried the sweet drinks with circumspection at first, but none left a drop or a boba at the bottom of the cups.

The questions asked of the officers were of all types from how much above the speed limit is the threshold police use before stopping people or how to engage a green left turn arrow when riding a bicycle or a motorbike. Serious topics were also discussed such as what safety precautions to take in a garage in light of recent house fires that started at night in that part of a residence.

King said that next time he might take his team to Moraga Town Bakery or Starbucks.