By Charly SHELTON

With a population of 203,054 and only one chief of police, it’s hard for Glendale Police Chief Carl Povilaitis to personally interact with each city resident. To make himself more accessible, and to give the public a chance to meet in an informal setting with the chief and also with detectives and officers of the Glendale Police Dept., the GPD holds Coffee with the Chief events around the city throughout the year. Last Saturday, one such event was held in La Crescenta.

“I enjoy these [events], the whole idea of doing a Coffee with the Chief and bringing out key members of the police department is to provide a really informal environment for people to discuss whatever issues are of concern to them,” said Povilaitis.

Starbucks in La Crescenta, the site of the former Burger King, held the event where officers, detectives and the chief took questions and met the residents they protect and serve. The one concern that was most often brought up by residents didn’t surprise the chief at all.

“It doesn’t matter where I go or what I do, traffic is usually the number one issue that comes up,” Povilaitis said. “Other issues in terms of certain crime-related issues or discussion about police procedure will make their way through that, but most people are concerned about traffic. We live in Los Angeles County, in a city of over 200,000 people and there are a lot of cars on the streets, so traffic naturally comes up as the number one concern.”

Coffee with the Chief is held periodically and is typically well attended by residents.

“It’s always nice to be able to sit with four or five, or even two or three, people at a time to discuss their concerns in depth,” the chief said. “We don’t always get that opportunity in larger forums. One of our strategic directions is to really engage with the community and this is one of the elements for filling that goal.”

  Charly Shelton