Time for Tea
Tuesday, 03 June, 2008
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Insp Anslow with PCSOs Jenny O'Doherty, Jakki Hardingham, Dawn Wells and Paul Hogben, who are all involved in beat surgeries
Police officers in the Essex town of Laindon hit upon a winning formula when they started serving tea, coffee and biscuits at beat surgeries for the public.
Now the meetings, hosted by NSOs and PCSOs, are to become even more of a special occasion with their own 'Cuppa with a Copper' mugs.
Laindon area commander, Inspector Simon Anslow, who came up with the idea for the 'Cuppa with a Copper' meetings said, "We often had trouble finding enough cups and mugs to go around at the places where we held the meetings. So to make the meetings more of a special occasion we decided to provide our own mugs.
"The meetings have become a great success since we started serving tea, coffee and biscuits because it was a good way to make the events more relaxed and encourage more people to attend.
"Having a chat over a cuppa has meant that we have been able to find out what the problems are in a local area and discuss ways of solving those difficulties."