Fox Chapel police to host 'coffee' talk at Cooper-Siegel Community Library

Fox Chapel police officers are ready to mingle with borough residents at an upcoming Cooper-Siegel Community Library event.

Coffee With a Cop is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. on April 1 at 403 Fox Chapel Rd.

The free event, created by Fox Chapel Police Chief Michael Stevens, serves as a meet-and greet for residents and officers to interact, discuss topics and get to know each other.

“We don’t have a business district,” said Stevens. “We have to be intentional with opening our doors to the community.”

The borough is mostly residential. Stevens will be joined by Sgt. Craig Sorg and other officers.

Sorg said it is important for police to get to know people, and not just in emergency situations.

“We’re reaching out trying to get to know our community, and we want our community to know us,” Sorg said. “This is one way of getting us together. We meet the residents introduce ourselves. We want to know what their concerns are, if any, in the municipality and just want to know what they have to say.”

The last Coffee With a Cop event took place in December.

Stevens said about 100 people participated.

“We had a robust turnout,” Stevens said. “I really wanted to do this since since becoming chief.”

Stevens was appointed chief last August. He has served with the Fox Chapel police force for more than 33 years.

Topics discussed at the last coffee chat included borough roadways and concerns about car safety.

“Speeding cars and school bus violations—those were discussed,” said Stevens, noting the borough’s roadways were created during the 1930s, when average car speeds were lower.

Sorg said officers received a lot of positive feedback from the first event and are excited to continue the program.

“Most of the people were just glad to meet us,” he said. “They see the cars drive by. They see us along the road, but they don’t know who we are. They were glad to put a name to a face and get to spend a little bit of time with us. That was the majority of the comments that we got as a department that day.”

Free coffee and donuts will be served during the two-hour event. There will be juice for children.

No registration is necessary, and masks are optional.

Library Director Jill McConnell said the library is a community hub, and the police program is an excellent example of that.

“They are really interested in getting more involved in the community, talking to people in the community more,” McConnell said.

“They felt having something like this at the library might be a good way to do that. We’re happy to serve in that way … It’s a good fit for us, and we’re happy to develop a stronger partnership with the police department on that.”

Plans include a daytime summer outdoor event to include activities for children as well as a possible event in the fall.