By Donald Wittkowski
Misty Elgersma and Lynne Shirk began talking about their families, the schools they attended as little girls and the history of Sea Isle City when they met each other at Giovanni’s Deli & Sub Shop on Landis Avenue.
Then they discovered they had something in common from their childhood: Both of them were born in Northeast Philadelphia and lived there for a while before ending up in Sea Isle.
“Where did you go to school?” Shirk asked Elgersma.
What sounded like harmless chit-chat between the two women actually was part of a get-to-know-you community outreach program by the Sea Isle Police Department called “Coffee With a Cop.”
Elgersma, a police sergeant, and Shirk, a local resident who serves on the Sea Isle Board of Education, were complete strangers when they walked into Giovanni’s on Monday morning. An hour later, they seemed like old friends while reminiscing about their Northeast Philadelphia backgrounds.
“I think it’s magnificent,” Shirk, who lives on 54th Street, said of Coffee With a Cop. “The police officers always have a smile on their face.”
Newly appointed Police Chief Tom McQuillen has made community outreach one of his top priorities as he looks to build closer ties between the police department and local residents. Coffee With a Cop is part of that strategy.
“That’s the goal,” McQuillen said. “It’s giving people the chance to meet police officers in a relaxed and informal way. I want them to see that we’re the same as everybody else. We’re people, too. We have families.”
Eventually, McQuillen wants to have every officer from the 23-member department take part in Coffee With a Cop meet-and-greets. He plans to have them on a regular basis at different businesses in town. He’s had three of them so far since he was named police chief in March.
“As long as people keep coming, we’ll keep hosting them,” McQuillen said.
On Monday morning, McQuillen was joined by a handful of the department’s senior officers and Mayor Leonard Desiderio at Giovanni’s. Residents were treated to cups of coffee, subs and dessert while meeting with police and the mayor.
Desiderio, who praised McQuillen and the police department for Coffee With a Cop, expressed confidence the initiative will create closer relationships and more trust between the officers and the local community.
“I think it’s a great concept,” Desiderio said.
Elgersma, who has been an officer for 14 years and is the only woman on the police department, believes she will become a better cop by getting to know the community better.
“From my perspective, it’s great for me to talk to so many people,” she said. “It’s nice for me to meet so many people from the community in a relaxed setting instead of seeing them only when they have a problem and need a police officer. I think your community link is the key.”
Coffee With a Cop is pretty much a freewheeling exchange that lets residents talk to police about virtually anything, even serious matters.
Shirk had questions about bicycles riding on the Promenade. Other residents wanted to know how many officers are assigned to each shift, why police cars also respond to ambulance calls and why more isn’t being done to prevent speeding on local streets.
Hank Page, who lives at 38th Street and Pleasure Avenue, stopped in at Giovanni’s to ask police why some of the street lights on Landis Avenue haven’t been switched to a blinking mode yet. The city normally does that during the off-season, when Sea Isle’s traffic becomes much lighter after the summer tourist rush.
Page, who has lived in Sea Isle for six years and has vacationed in the beach town for more than 30 years, said Coffee With a Cop gives him direct contact with police.
“It’s great,” he said. “You get to talk to the folks at the police department and get straightforward answers. But it’s also nice to meet them on an unofficial basis and chat on an informal basis.”
John Libro, owner of Giovanni’s, said he was honored to host Coffee With a Cop at his deli and sub shop. Libro, who has lived in Sea Isle most of his life, believes the police department is also building stronger ties to the local business community.
“I don’t think it can hurt,” he said. “It’s always a good thing to be able to talk and have an open relationship with the community.”
