The Coffee with a Cop initiative was rolled out for the first time in the New England at the Prue and Olive Cafe.

Community member Kate Blackmore said it was fantastic to be able to ask some questions and thank police for their work.

“I work at the university and for a lot of people it’s their first time away from home, the police run lots of things in O Week and Care Week for us so it’s nice to build a connection,” she said.

“It’s also just nice as a community member to know who the police officers are, it’s an opportunity to come down and meet them – but also thank them for all the things they do for us.

“I had a couple of questions, I have a child who’s about to be a learner driver, we’re about to enter into how that all happens so it will be good to get some answers.”

Staff at the Prue and Olive had handed out 39 coffees on the cops by 11am.

Superintendent Fred Trench said the turnout represented a broad section of the community.

“After today’s success I’d say there will be more, and we might move around the command to Guyra, Glen Innes, Inverell,” he said.

“We’re getting a lot of general questions, a lot of traffic questions, we’ve got guys from highway patrol covering those but mostly people just want to have a chat to the cops.”

Police officers from highway patrol, detectives, general duties, licensing, crime prevention, domestic violence officers, the Aboriginal liaison officer and the command management team sat down for a cuppa and a chat at the cafe.

“It’s brilliant feedback for us, it’s great to get a one-on-one with the community and it’s usually very direct conversation,” Superintendent Trench said.

“After this we’ll probably get together and debrief, find out what’s being said and see if there’s anything we need to change.”

Questions were asked about traffic, licensing, driving, crime in Armidale and much more.

The event was organised by Senior Constable Chris Jordan who said he was prepared for all sorts of questions.

“From day one as a cop you get all sorts of questions, is that a real gun? Does capsicum spray hurt? Can I touch the taser?” he said.

“These are the questions you usually get, we’ll see how we go by the end of today.”

The Coffee with a Cop initiative began in America and will be rolled out across commands statewide. Officers hoped to gain a better understanding of issues that might be troubling the community.