The new North Bay Police Chief is trying to get to know his new community.
The former Chief of the Woodstock Police Service, who has more than 30 years of policing experience, was officially sworn in as North Bay's 11th police chief in late March.
As a way to get to know the people of North Bay, he says in May he will be opening up an opportunity for members of the public to have coffee with the chief.
"Yes I have done this in the past and I think it is something police departments have traditionally done 'coffee with a cop' I have just taken it a step further as 'coffee with the chief' especially me being new here," explained Longworth.
"Aside from being new, I would like to continue this as an ongoing thing. It is an opportunity for people to come and sit down in an informal environment to have the ear of the chief and talk about the concerns they have with the police service and how we can provide better services to the community. We will gladly accept compliments about our officers as well and I know there are tons out there."
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Longworth has been trying to gather more information about his new community as he mentioned visiting downtown businesses and local politicians to help get a better understanding of community expectations.
The new Chief hopes to get the coffee pot brewing for the initiative in May.
"We will have the first one in May and we will see how often we can get them, monthly or every other month, we will see. If nobody wants to come and talk to me we will scrap it so please talk to me," he said.
