The township police department hosted its Coffee With a Cop Day on Oct 27, when residents got the opportunity to talk with officers and see the people behind the uniforms.
“The goal is to have a simplified event where people get to interact with officers, so it doesn’t require a whole lot of organization,” said Police Chief Darren White. “There is no agenda and no intimidation on our part.
“We try to set them up in a high traffic area so people can come and ask people questions,” he added. “This time, we had a horse from the state police come out. We also let kids get involved by letting them inside our cars and letting them turn on the siren. There’s a national day every year, but we try to hold a couple of them every year.”
Coffee With a Cop had guests who also came out to talk to officers, including Mayor Pete Scirrotto and three members of the Wenonah council: Susan Mayer, who oversees public safety and personnel; Jessica Doheny, who reports on finances and budgets; and Peter Fu, who oversees the legal aspects and ordinances.
Wenonah shares a police department with Mantua, so the two communities have close ties to each other.
Coffee With a Cop is a national observance that began in 2011 in Hawthorne, California, where the police decided to interact with citizens. It has since gone international as well, with observations in Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia and Latin America every year on the first Wednesday in October.
“This is the first time we’ve held it since COVID,” said White. “Before then, we did it about three times, and we plan to do this more in the future.”
Dates for future Coffee With a Cop events in Mantua have yet to be determined. Follow the department on Facebook for an announcement.
