Officers from the Berlin Police Department are holding its semi-annual Coffee with a Cop event at Raceway Bagels on Route 73 on Oct. 16 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., where community members had the opportunity to engage with officers.
“We’ve been doing this ever since I’ve been a member of this unit,” said patrol officer Art Knapp. “We pretty much choose a location in town and the business works with us. They provide coffee to their customers and it’s just kind of like a meet and greet.”
For the first time, this year’s event will also feature an informal car show.
“(Raceway Bagels) had the idea of doing a car show as well with it … and it’s the first time for us,” said Sgt. Josh Smith. “But the last time we had a car show at our National Night Out, it was extremely successful.”
While there are no prizes or judging for the car show, Smith noted that it’s not unusual for coffee shops or breakfast places to have meetups for car clubs or car enthusiasts to talk about their vehicles before going to a car show.
“Cars and Coffee is just like a meet and greet,” Smith explained. “There is no winner, no award. It’s just kind of just encouraging people to come up, show off their car, have a cup of coffee.”
“Basically, we’re combining two events: Coffee with a Cop, where we’re encouraging our residents, business owners and passersby to engage the police officers, and Cars and Coffee, where we’re targeting (car enthusiasts) with cars to join the two together essentially,” he added.
Upcoming events include a blood drive on Oct. 29 at the Berlin Community Center. On the same day, Berlin police will also participate in the Trunk-or-Treat at the Berlin Farmers Market from 4 to 7 p.m.
To stay up to date with the police department, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/berlinpd.
