Residents had the opportunity to meet and engage with local police officers at the ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event hosted by Hastings Police on Saturday, 1st March, at Ferguson Plarre Bakehouse in Somerville Central. The event provided a relaxed setting for the community to ask questions, discuss concerns, and connect with officers.
STPL News spoke with Amanda from Western Port Neighbourhood Watch and Acting Sergeant Lachie Gray from Hastings Police about the event.
Open Dialogue Between Police and the Community
Acting Sergeant Lachie Gray explained that the event aimed to encourage conversations between police officers and the public.
“Today’s event is based off engaging with members of the community to express concerns, ideas, or anything that they want to just interact and have a free coffee with the police and have a chat with,”
He said.
A key feature of the event was its inclusivity, particularly for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
“Today was also inclusive of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and those members that utilise AUSLAN, so we had a Victoria Police VPS staff member come down as well as myself being a qualified Auslan interpreter. This allowed us to interact with those members of the community and gauge how we can engage with them better going forward.”
Christie serving a free coffee that was sponsored by Somerville Central Management. – STPL News
Community Engagement and Feedback
Acting Sergeant Gray described the event as a success, noting strong community attendance and valuable conversations.
“Yeah, positive feedback today. A lot of people in attendance, and it was great. Obviously, different things impact the community in different ways. One issue might be a concern for one person, but it’s something we might not know about. So it’s good to have a variety of people attend with different local community concerns and discuss how we’re addressing them, or what we don’t know about and how we can go forward with that.”
Pictured: Leo the Golden Retriever, Amanda from Neighbourhood Watch, Katie from Somerville Central Management, Cr Kate Roper – STPL News
Amanda from Western Port Neighbourhood Watch stressed the importance of such events in building trust between police and the public.
“The police aren’t the enemy. The police are here to talk to us, they’re here to protect us, they’re here to help us. So I feel it’s really good that we could do more of these things and get the community involved with the police and the police involved with the community.”
Upcoming Emergency Services Open Day
Amanda and Acting Sergeant Gray also discussed an upcoming Emergency Services Open Day, scheduled for Saturday, 22nd March, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Hastings Foreshore.
“Yes, so on that, the Emergency Services Open Day, we’ve got that coming up on the 22nd of March. We’re running from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Hastings Foreshore,”
Acting Sergeant Gray confirmed.
The event will bring together multiple emergency services, including Victoria Police, Neighbourhood Watch, SES, CFA, Coast Guard of Western Port, Ambulance Victoria, Parks Victoria, and Fisheries.
“So essentially, it’s an open day with all emergency services. It’s a day purely designed for you to engage with emergency services, look over emergency service vehicles, interact, put on uniforms, and just generally engage with crews. There’ll be barbecues, a sausage sizzle, ice cream trucks, coffees—all for the public.”
One of the highlights of the day will be the Inspired Change Crew, a motorbike freestyle stunt team performing an interactive display.
Amanda also encouraged the community to take advantage of free security engravings at the event.
“So for security items, if you’ve got a bike, you’ve got a scooter, you’ve got tools—anything like that—we’re happy to engrave on them free of charge if you bring them down.”
Both Amanda and Acting Sergeant Gray encouraged locals to attend.
“The amount of things that we’ve got planned—many of these people are volunteering their time, if not all of them, and they’re doing it for the community. So we strongly encourage people to come down, have a look at what’s there, and you might just find something that you’re interested in.”
For those new to the area, Amanda added,
“There are so many people out there that need volunteers. Reach out to the police, reach out to community groups, and join. Meet lots of great people—we’re all here to do positive things in the community.”
Neighbourhood Watch Seeking Volunteers
It’s of no surprise that Leo stole the show. – Supplied
Western Port Neighbourhood Watch is also looking for new members and volunteers to support their community initiatives. Those interested in getting involved can reach out at upcoming events or connect with the organisation to learn more about how they can contribute to making their local area safer.
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