Bloomfield police grab coffee to bond with residents

By Joshua Jongsma, North Jersey Record
Original article HERE

With the sound of a bustling kitchen and a police radio as the backdrop, two members of the Bloomfield Police Department set out to meet members of the community during a “Coffee with a Cop” event Tuesday morning at Nevada Diner on Broad Street.

Sgt. Naomi Zepeda and Officer Yesenia Aponte grabbed some brew with two local residents for an hour Tuesday, during an event designed to give the public a chance to meet the people behind the badge. A public Facebook event helped spread the word, Zepeda said.

“We open it up to people if they feel that they have a complaint with their neighbor or anything,” she said. “Maybe they don’t feel like they want to make a police report but they just want someone to talk to, make suggestions. It’s a good way for us to take care of stuff.”

The department previously held a similar meeting for residents of Felicity Towers apartment building but Tuesday’s gathering was the first open to the general public, Aponte said.

The two members of the police department were joined by Bloomfield’s Judy Johanson and Roy Yorkelson. The quartet talked about police issues such as where traffic lights or speed bumps could help in the town, but mostly kept the conversation casual.

The group talked about their favorite Chinese restaurants and a recent trip Johanson made to Las Vegas. Yorkelson, a resident of Bloomfield for more than 30 years, said he wanted to attend the coffee meeting to show support for the local police.

“I like hanging with the cops,” Yorkelson said. “It shows we’re on the right side of the law.”

Although only two people attended on Tuesday, Yorkelson said it made for an intimate setting to chat with the police.

Aponte said they do not have another public Coffee with a Cop event scheduled but they will be attending other gatherings, including senior citizen activities, Scout meetings and a college and high school fair.

Randy Bullageo, manager of Nevada Diner for 17 years, said he was glad to have the Bloomfield police there.

“It’s for the good of the community,” Bullageo said. “We’re supposed to have this all the time. It’s supposed to be like that, I like when they do this. It means they’re human beings. They make themselves approachable. We picture them out [on the street] like a robot … it’s wrong.”