Police listen to community concerns of crime during Coffee with a Cop at Hamilton

By Renee Valentine, The Star
Original article HERE

There was an increased police presence on Beaumont Street on Wednesday as community initiative Coffee with a Cop sprung into action.

Detective Inspector Steve Laksa, crime manager of Newcastle City Command, said Coffee with a Cop started in California in the United States and provided a good opportunity to meet with people in the community in an informal setting to discuss any issues they were having.

The initiative has been used in Fairfield to great success for the past couple of years and Detective Inspector Laksa said there was a positive response when Coffee with a Cop set up at Waratah in February as part of a state-wide campaign.

“It seemed to be very positive and very engaging by the community members and they just raised some simple concerns they had and as a result we’ve had this one at Hamilton,” he said.

He said Hamilton had experienced “a slight rise in crime” in the past 18 months as well as vagrancy and other issues and “we’ve been tipping some resources into the area just to provide some support to the community members”.

Mel Chamberlain and Bee Roals, who work at Kavon Theme Restaurant in Hamilton, attended Coffee with a Cop on Wednesday to address their concerns about the increased level of crime in the area.

“We came down because we were hoping to talk to someone about all of the anti-social behaviour down our end of the street, towards the train station,” Ms Chamberlain said.

“It’s poor behaviour, fights, and we’ve had broken windows and we’ve been broken into. Our car park is being used as a public toilet or a drug den; it’s just become really awful.”

Fellow employee Ms Roals echoed the concerns and said many co-workers did not feel safe leaving the premises after they had finished their shifts.

“When they leave they are confronted by big groups of intoxicated, unpleasant people and it just feels unsafe,” Ms Roals said.

“We’re constantly worried about security, both of property and vehicles and personal security.”

After speaking with police officers at Coffee with a Cop both felt better to have voiced their concerns and been listened to.

“They said, ‘Give us call, whenever’, which we sort of didn’t want to do because it didn’t seem extreme enough for the police a lot of the time,” Ms Roals said.

“But they said, ‘If you give us a call at least we know that it’s happening, which is great’. And they gave us some other contacts … we’re going to leave with some positive action moving forward.”

On hand at Coffee with a Cop was also representatives from Department of Community Housing, Newcastle Mental Health Services and the Hamilton Business Chamber.