Cop a coffee when shopping

By Lachlan Ellis

An initiative to further connect police with the community has had its first session for the year, with a free coffee and a chat on offer for locals every month.

The ‘Coffee with a Cop’ initiative has seen interruptions during COVID, but this year Bacchus Marsh Police plan to hold the sessions on the first Tuesday of every month.

The first session for 2022 was held at the Bacchus Marsh Village Shopping Centre on Tuesday 1 February from 9.30 – 10.30 am, and the next will be held on Tuesday 1 March, same time and place.

Senior Sergeant Jen Horgan became Station Commander at Bacchus Marsh Police Station last November, and said connecting with the community was one of her top priorities.

“The last two years we’ve spent a lot of time interacting the community, talking about Chief Health Officer directions: masks, curfews, that kind of thing. I want to get back to ‘back to basics’ policing, and just speak to people – see what they want from us, what they’re seeing, and what we can do to support them,” she told the Moorabool News.

“It’s really nice speaking to people not on the end of a Triple Zero call. It’s nice to meet with the community on more neutral terms, and be more available as well. If people know the session’s on, they can come along, or if they pass by and see us there, there might be something in the back of their minds they want to know, that they haven’t wanted to bother the police about.

“The day we did it last month was just before kinder went back, so we had quite a few kids we could give colouring books and pencils too, so that was nice.”

Though police interacted with the community online during the height of the pandemic, including on the Moorabool Eyewatch Facebook page, Senior Sergeant Horgan said it was “fantastic to be able to get back to face-to-face”.

If you want to have a chat with a local police officer over a free cup of coffee, pop down to the Bacchus Marsh Village Shopping Centre at 9.30 am on Tuesday 1 March.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-02-22/4

in the 22 February 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.