A cop and convict were tricked into sitting down for a coffee — they had no idea it would change their lives
They were never supposed to be on the same side. One wore a badge, the other carried a negative record; their paths crossed only at the time of conflicts. Seeing each other reminded them of everything they stood against. But life has a way of testing us, and that too in unexpected ways. Things changed. They turn out to be two men trying to rewrite the direction of their lives. One of them was Ray Robokowski, a police officer known for being firm, focused, and committed to keeping the town in order, as reported by CBS News.
As he put it, "I wasn't a social worker; I was a police officer. My job was to take care of what needed to be taken care of." The other was Jacob Maclin, a drug dealer and active gang member who found himself in handcuffs so often that you could see him aging through his time in and out. Their interactions over a decade were defined by friction, suspicion, and a certainty deep down that the other wasn’t ever going to change.
Which is why it felt almost absurd when the district attorney’s office got them to sit down together over coffee. Robokowski only attended because his boss insisted. Maclin showed up because he’d been told there was a job interview waiting for him. Instead, they ended up across a table, saying almost nothing, just staring at each other with years of conflicts and resentment sitting between them. Robokowski admitted his thoughts at the time were far from hopeful. "You're going to screw up, and I'm going to find you and put you back," he recalled. Maclin didn’t disagree; he remembered feeling the very same distrust.
But the set-up meeting didn’t dissolve into anger. Instead, it created an opening neither man had anticipated. Over the next couple of months, Maclin began proving he truly wanted a fresh start. He kept showing up, kept trying. As he put it, "He sent me on, maybe, 14 or 15 interviews in two weeks. And one of them was Community Warehouse." It is a nonprofit home-improvement store that hires and trains former inmates, and it changed everything. Maclin not only got the job, but he also built his future there. Eight years later, he’s part of the management team, a father of three, and someone who insists the cycle ends with him. His gratitude toward Robokowski runs deep: "Very, very, very, oh man, very..." he said, repeating the word until it barely sounded like enough.
And then came the twist neither would have predicted: after Robokowski retired from the police force, he found himself looking for work again and turned to the man he once arrested. “Jacob Maclin!” he said, laughing at the irony. This time, Jacob was the one who could open a door, and yes, he did! Working side by side, the former enemies have helped more than a dozen ex-convicts build steadier lives.
Maclin calls Robokowski a different man than the one he first met. Robokowski says the same of Maclin. Their past hasn’t vanished, but it no longer defines them.
Today, the only chases in Maclin’s world are around playgrounds, and Robokowski spends his days helping people he once would’ve arrested. For two men who began as adversaries, the transformation is unlikely and exactly why their story has resonated far beyond Milwaukee.