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Coffee with a cop helps new Australians become Sydney’s next crime fighters
By Bindi Bryce, ABC
Original article HERE
The coffee may be average and come in styrofoam cups, but for about 100 people at Cabramatta Library — a mix of local police officers and new Australians — that is not the point.
For an hour every month, the coffee is just fuel for conversation — one designed to help build trust in the community.
“It’s a really easy way for the police and the public to come together and have a chat about things,” NSW Police Fairfield City Commander Superintendent Peter Lennon said.
“And it’s led to friendships being formed.
“Some of these people have actually started to work for the police as volunteers, so that’s been really good.”
Every month police in Fairfield host an open coffee day where anyone can come along, have a coffee or tea and chat with a police officer.
All are welcome and newly arrived migrants and refugees are especially enthusiastic, often showing up in the hundreds.
The “coffee with a cop” movement started in the United States in 2011 and the meet-ups have since spread to Australia and the UK.
Superintendent Lennon said the gathering in Fairfield, one of Australia’s most ethnically diverse suburbs, had helped “break down the barriers” between the police and the community.
“They may have been scared of us,” he said. “[For example] we’ve just had a chat about the way Australian police operate, which is completely different to the way they operate overseas.
Talking crime over coffee
Kim Tien Tran from Vietnam has only been in Australia for two months, but has already attended coffee with a cop.
She said she was surprised by how easy going the officers were.
“They were very friendly,” she said.
Adam Naddo came to Australia from Syria 18 months ago and said the meet-ups made him feel safer.
“I’m really happy I came today,” he said.
“It’s very hard in Syria and it’s very different … but the system in Australia is very good.”
Meetings can lead to tip-offs
NSW Vietnamese Women’s Association president Ahn Linh Pham said the program helped tackle long-held fears about the police within the Vietnamese community.
“Because the ladies said they [the police] are scary,” she said.
Ms Anh helped translate for the women, many of whom wanted to know how to report crimes to the police.
“My friend was a bit worried about some activity happening in her street that she thinks there might be drug dealing,” she said.
“She said ‘I dare not call the police’ but now she understands she can call the police without leaving her name.”
Superintendent Lennon said police had received many tip-offs about potential illegal activity in the area through the program.
“Some people have told us about suspicious cars, possibly drug dealers at 10:00pm — so they can give us that sort of information, either now or later, confidentially,” he said.
“Police aren’t going to solve anything by sitting around in an office or driving around in a car. We’ve actually got to have the conversations and the face-to-face meetings.”
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