By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A NEW police initiative encouraging the community to meet their local police officers is coming to Endeavour Hills.
The Coffee with a Cop program, originally from the US, will launch at Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre this Thursday and will allow Casey residents to come and have a cuppa with their local cops and discuss any topic.
Acting Senior Sergeant Jen McKenna is helping co-ordinate the program.
“It personalises it, it gives them the opportunity to meet people,” she said.
“There’s no agendas, no forums, it’s whatever the community want to discuss.
“I think with policing you go job to job, and a lot of those jobs aren’t always meeting people in good circumstances so police members don’t get an opportunity to meet people in an informal way, it’s generally when people need us.
“This gives people the chance to meet us in an informal setting.”
Coffee with a Cop was started in Hawthorne, California, in 2011 after members of the local police department looked into ways they could interact better with their community.
In less than two years Coffee with a Cop events have been hosted in more than 2000 communities across 48 states.
Victoria Police has since looked abroad to see how what community projects they could draw on to improve community relations.
Sen Sgt McKenna said the Coffee with a Cop initiative would be run in Casey monthly, with the hope of taking it to other suburbs after the Endeavour Hills trial.
“It’s absolutely something Victoria Police will be watching to see how it’s received in the community,” she said.
“Of course if it takes off here (Endeavour Hills), it’s something we could easily spread.”
The first Coffee with a Cop session will be held this Thursday, 2 July, from 10am to noon at the Endeavour Hills Police Station.
To get involved with the program, or for more information, contact Sen Sgt McKenna at Endeavour Hills Police Station on 9709 7666.
