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Berlin residents chat about parking, speeding with local police at ‘Coffee With a Cop’
By Don Stacom, Hartford Courant
Original article HERE
For two hours Thursday morning, patrons and uniformed police officers at Cafe Busy Bean chatted cheerfully about local traffic hot spots, baseball, the school system and a range of other topics.
The town’s fifth “Coffee With a Cop” get-together was a success, Deputy Chief Chris Ciuci said afterward. In addition to building rapport between police and the community, the informal gatherings are a good opportunity to encourage residents to contact police immediately when they see something suspicious, he said.
“The members of the community really are a force multiplier. We cover 26 square miles, so they’re our eyes and ears,” Ciuci said. “This is a time when we can tell them, ‘We want to hear from you. If you see something that doesn’t look right, call.’ ”
The Coffee With a Cop sessions have no speeches or programs, and are just an opportunity for some relaxed talk over coffee. Ciuci said the most common things he hears are requests for speed enforcement on residential streets.
Residents Ann Bartolomeo and Rosanne Alicata met at the Busy Bean for coffee and were surprised to see so many police inside; they ended up saying the gathering was a big success. Within minutes, Alicata was laughing with Ciuci after teasing him about how police cars were taking up so many parking spaces for customers.
“This is a delight,” Bartolomeo said. “We have an excellent police department.
Bartolomeo is no stranger to the agency, she said.
“I took the citizens police academy. Our community really should hear it – you learn about all the different jobs of each police officer,” she said.
Chief John Klett, Ciuci and Officer Cathy Griffin have hosted previous sessions at the community center and two other restaurants in town; each time, administrative and patrol staff show up to talk with any residents that attend. Detectives and other officers stop by for at least part of the session.
“It’s a way for people to get to see officers as human beings,” Klett said.
The police department also offers its citizens academy as well as self-defense classes for women, Klett said, along with DARE instruction and a course for business owners in preparing against active shooters in their buildings.
