SCV Sheriff’s Station Hosts Canyon Country Coffee With A Cop

By Perry Smith, KHTS
Original article HERE

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies Thursday created a casual coffeehouse community meet in Canyon Country for Coffee with a Cop, meeting with residents and spreading news about Sheriff’s Department outreach.

“Building relationships with the community, one cup at a time,” is the motto for the event advertised on social media, and as the coffee brewed, conversations emanated from all corners of the shop.

The program aims to create a comfortable setting for dialogue, according to Deputy Cabrera, a patrol deputy for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.

“What’s going on in the community, policing, talking, just some dialogue of what’s going on now,” he said.

Cabrera also said it as helpful to be able to have informal conversations with the community in this type of relaxed setting, because there’s no tension or active public safety concern to also address, which is often the case during a service call.

Deputies fielded positive feedback, as well as crime and policing questions, during the two-hour meet and greet at Mugshots Coffeehouse on Via Princessa.

The next event is likely to be held in the evening per Sheriff’s Station PIO Shirley Miller, who said the station was holding the events at a variety of times, and throughout the SCV, in order to give as many people as possible a chance to attend.

The effort is part of the outreach by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, which created the Crime Prevention Unit several years back to create more community involvement and accountability. The unit divides the SCV into eight different zones for crime reporting, and each of those areas have a deputy assigned who addresses crime reports in his or her zone.

A steady stream poured through the doors for most of the morning as several deputies, including Jonathan Wilson, who’s the Crime Prevention Unit leader for the Canyon Country West zone.

Miller also said the events were also a great chance to remind the public about the social media and online tools officials use to communicate with the community, such as Nixle, Facebook and Twitter.