Police and patrons came together at the Port City Bowling club to chew the fat and discuss matters in the community.

“It is a wonderful concept.  Personally, we spoke about the area in general and the Mid North Coast, so I was happy to just say hello to these wonderful representatives of the thin blue line,” said local man Wayne Evans.

Another local, Joanne Ibbotson, received some information on a range of topics that she wanted to know more about.

"We have no major issues, we were just talking about random breath testing,” she said.

“We just wanted to know how often it was done in town. This get together has been a great thing for the community."

Senior Constable Steve Cherry, who is already well known in Port Macquarie, said it was beneficial for other police officers as well as the community.

“We enjoyed meeting with everyone. I think it was very beneficial to other police who don’t normally get to sit down with the community and to build those relationships,” he said. 

“There weren’t too many major topics raised, people were just happy to talk in general.”

The Coffee with a Cop will be an annual event. The police partake in a lot of community engagement on the Mid North Coast and Snr Cons Cherry said that it will continue.

“We hope it makes the community feel more comfortable in police presence,” he said.