Coffee, Conversation and Card Tricks: Riverhead Police Host Meet-Up Events Across Town

Riverhead Police held five “Coffee with a Cop” sessions across the city yesterday to meet and talk with residents and hear their concerns and ideas.

Officers spent time at four different locations, from Wading River to Jamesport, yesterday morning, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Police returned to a popular deli on East Main Street last night, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., to chat again with members of the Latino community at a time of day when more residents are likely to be free to speak.

“In the morning, people are on missions. They have to go to work, so they want to eat something and go,” said Riverhead Police Detective Byron Perez. Perez and Officer James Clarkin were sitting at one of the picnic tables on the sidewalk outside the Village Delicatessen gate last night, greeting people as they entered and exited the crowded grocery store.

Perez, the son of Guatemalan immigrants, speaks fluent Spanish and greets people as they enter the grocery store, usually to buy a freshly cooked meal.

“Good nights. How are you? he said with a broad smile. Many of those he greeted stopped to discuss various things, including the overcrowded housing code that was just passed by the City Council on Tuesday.

One man, who has lived in Riverhead for 22 years, told Perez he supports the code because it would increase safety for residents. He said some of the living conditions offered to Latino workers are very dangerous, especially when people rent space in basements.

Diana Demarco of Coram sat down for a longer conversation, asking them about their work in Riverhead.

Yesterday morning at Lolly’s Hut, an iconic Riverhead lunch spot on Route 58, where the aroma of sizzling bacon filled the air of the cozy, crowded dining room, Officers Cole Stasiukiewicz and Daniel Hoffman drank more than coffee . They opted for breakfast and got a surprise “side”: card tricks performed by a Riverhead resident who learned the craft during an online masterclass he took during the pandemic.

Jim Cioffi, a retired LIRR auditor who now drives a bus part-time for the Riverhead school district, sat down for breakfast with his fellow driver and retired Longwood High School math teacher and fellow school bus driver Danny Virgilio. The affable and talkative Cioffi began talking with the officers seated at the next table and soon offered to show them a few card tricks. He went to his car to retrieve a deck of cards he was carrying with him. After allowing the cops to inspect the bridge, he confused them with his magic.

Cioffi told cops he was relatively new to Riverhead and really liked living here. It’s a peaceful and beautiful place, he said.

Another new resident, Gerry Ferrara of Glenwood Village, came to the officers’ table to say hello after grabbing a BLT at the Lolly counter. “I came here for the first time the other day,” he said. Lolly gets his approval, as does Riverhead. One thing that bothers him, Ferrara said, is the way vehicles, especially pickup trucks, speed on Route 58. He said it’s common for trucks to pass him at more than 55 or 60 mph. Ferrara spoke with officers about traffic control issues on the five-lane road, which lacks shoulders for much of its length. Speeding was his only complaint, he said.

Stasiukiewicz and Hoffman are assigned to the Riverhead Police Department’s COPE – Community Oriented Policing Engagement unit. The unit focuses on community engagement, during events like Coffee with a Cop, but also during regular officer tours.

“You get to know the community in a new way,” Hoffman said.

Stasiukiewicz agreed. “When you’re part of a patrol unit, your focus is on responding to 911 calls for your entire shift. The COPE unit allows you to see the community as a whole. You see things from a different perspective.

Police Chief Ed Frost said today that he visited three of the Coffee with a Cop locations yesterday morning. The day went well, the chief said. There were a lot of conversations between police and residents, which is the goal of the program.

Coffee with a Cop is a national program first launched in Hawthorne, California in 2011, the result of brainstorming ways to better connect with the community. Events have now taken place in all 50 states and the program is considered one of the most successful community policing programs in the country. “Coffee Day with a Cop” launched in Riverhead in 2016.