Perth County OPP will host a number of Coffee with a Cop events to kick off 2024.
Constable Bethany Hanlon says the program is nothing new, but it may still be unknown to some, and she explains what happens at the very informal events.
"A couple of our officers visit a local coffee shop and connect with members of our community. So they're there to field any questions that people may have, whether that's ongoings in their community, or just to chat, or even someone who may be interested in a career in policing or maybe something with our auxiliary programs, they can certainly come out to chat about that at one of these programs," Hanlon explained.
Constable Hanlon notes that this year, there will be a committed schedule of Coffee with a Cop events.
"What's new this year is that instead of sporadically offering them across the year, Perth County OPP is committing to offering one of these sessions every month. So the second Thursday of each month, we will be doing a Coffee with a Cop across Perth County. So we'll be in North Perth, West Perth and Perth East on a rotating basis to just connect with all the different communities," added Hanlon.
The first one will be Thursday, January 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Tim Hortons on Wallace Avenue North in Listowel.
Hanlon says that each session will feature different officers, including herself.
"I'll be there. We'll have different officers out for each session, but I'll be there for sure. We're hoping to have our inspector out, as well as our staff sergeant. We also want to have our sergeants for North Perth and West Perth on different sessions to connect and chat," Hanlon shared. "We also want to have some different officers like our school resource officer may be available at one session to talk about what's going on at the schools and what she's doing and we might have our community mobilization officer to talk about our mobilization. But we are hoping to rotate through the officers who are there to give people a chance to connect with the different officers who serve their communities."
With much of the focus on interacting with and informing the public, while answering any questions, Hanlon adds that these experiences are very valuable for her and her fellow officers.
"It's a great opportunity for me to hear some concerns and maybe some feedback from the members of the public that I serve and to hear what's going on in the community. We unfortunately don't get opportunities too often to hear from our community members and hear what's going on from their perspective. So this gives myself and our other officers an opportunity to hear from the people in the community that we're serving," Hanlon concluded.
Following the first event in Listowel on January 11, the program will continue the second Thursday of each month at various coffee shops across the Municipality of North Perth, the Municipality of West Perth and the Township of Perth East. Stay up to date on the OPP West social media feeds for upcoming events.
Coffee with a Cop events are scheduled for February in Milverton and March in Mitchell.
