Saco Police Chief Jack Clements, right, speaks to community members at CIA Cafe during a Coffee with a Cop event in 2018. COURTESY OF FACEBOOK
SACO — The Saco Police Department is welcoming the public to come get to know some of their officers over a cup of coffee on Thursday.
Representatives from the Saco Police Department, including local school resource officers, will be on hand at CIA Cafe, 9 Beach St., from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Local community members are welcome to drop by any time during the two-hour period to chat with officers.
“We’re open to talk about anything,” said Deputy Police Chief Corey Huntress. “Anyone can come by and chat us up.”
The event gives residents a chance to interact with members of the police force in a relaxed atmosphere, said Huntress. It’s also a way for police to foster connections and good relations with the people they serve, and to make police more approachable.
“They can make that connection and put a face to a name,” said Huntress.
Thursday’s Coffee with a Cop will be the third such event with the Saco Police Department. They are also a great way for the police to learn more about the community and learn what issues are important to people, Huntress said..
The CIA Cafe has been a great host, he said, and in past years some of the police officers were even put to work behind the counter, serving coffee and ringing up customers.
Coffee with a Cop events are held by police departments in communities throughout the country. The nationwide program was launched in 2011 by the Hawthorne Police Department in California and a nonprofit organization was established in 2018.
The organization states on its website that the Coffee with a Cop events are “one of the most successful community oriented policing programs across the country.”
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be reached at 780-9015 or by email at egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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