Downtown Hamilton café hosts ‘Coffee with a Cop’ as part of National Police Week

Hamilton police’s Coffee with a Cop is a go for Tuesday afternoon just a week after another downtown café cancelled the event.

The fourth instalment of the public face-to-face with police officers will happen between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. at Café Oranje on King Street East near Spring Street.

“Ask questions and share what’s on your mind over a cup of coffee,” reads a description of the event. “There are no agendas, no speeches – just conversation.

READ MORE: Downtown Hamilton café cancels ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event due to ‘community response’

A May 7 version of the get together at the Mulberry Street Coffeehouse hit a stumbling block after the outlet opted out just days before.

In a social media post, the café cited “community response” as the primary factor in not going ahead.

“Mulberry wants to continue to be a safe space. We know that this takes work and we are still learning,” they said on their Facebook account. “Thank you for calling us in and holding us accountable for our actions.”

Coffee with a Cop events are an ongoing community program run by Hamilton police and this week’s version coincides with National Police Week in Canada. That campaign was created in 1970 with the mandate of connecting police with the public and raising awareness of the services they provide.

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Glenn deCaire, former Hamilton police chief and current head of security at McMaster University, told Global News Radio 900 CHML’s Bill Kelly that holding these kinds of events is the only way to break down the gap between police and the community.

“You can only get better if you understand the other perspective, and then you can institute positive change in the organization. You can institute positive change in the community,” said DeCaire.