CLEWISTON -- Anyone who has been curious how the Clewiston Police Department operates won’t want to miss its first “Coffee with the Chief” event Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m.

Interim Police Chief Thomas Lewis is hosting the event at Common Grounds Coffee Shop at 104 Bond St., Ste. A, in Clewiston.

This is a casual, informal event that requires no registration and is designed to let community members to know how the department works and to comment and ask questions.

“I want it to always remain informal,” Lewis said. “This is just a friendly conversation where folks in the community and business owners can hear it straight from me.”

Lewis will start off with a brief outline about department staff, its budget, what has been happening over the past few months and where its headed in the future, animal control services and how the community can become involved with the department through volunteering, ride-alongs with an officer, volunteering and more.

He will share how many officers and staff it has, patrol and dispatching operations, how tax dollars are spent and policies and procedures before turning it over to questions and discussion.

He will be joined by Commanders and patrol officers.

“As this is the first one, I want to introduce those folks, so they know who is serving their community,” Lewis said.

Lewis planned the event to let the community know he is approachable and available. He modeled it on a similar event he held in Punta Gorda when he was Chief of Police there.

“It was well received and communication with the community was at an all time high,” he said.

He is hoping for a similar response at this month’s meeting and if all goes well, he plans to repeat the event quarterly and possibly monthly if there is enough interest.

So far, the response to the announcement on the Clewiston PD Facebook page has been positive, he said.

The Clewiston Chamber of Commerce coordinated the event.