ELBERTA, Ala. — Elberta residents who haven’t yet met their new police chief will get the chance over a cup of coffee next month. The Elberta Public Library will host Coffee with a Cop on Monday, Oct. 5, an informal morning meet-and-greet with Chief Andy Taylor and several of the town’s police officers.
The event begins at 8:30 a.m. at the library, 13062 Main St. Coffee and breakfast refreshments will be served while residents mingle with the chief and officers.
Coffee with a Cop at a glance
- What: Coffee with a Cop, a community meet-and-greet with the Elberta Police Department
- When: Monday, Oct. 5, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
- Where: Elberta Public Library, 13062 Main St., Elberta
- Who: Police Chief Andy Taylor and several Elberta police officers
- Refreshments: Coffee and breakfast refreshments
A new chief for Elberta
The Elberta Coffee with a Cop event arrives during a period of change at the Elberta Police Department. Taylor was officially sworn in as chief on July 21, following the retirement earlier this summer of Chief Julie M. Joyner.
Joyner’s tenure in the top job was relatively short but rooted in long experience in the town. The Elberta Town Council voted in January 2025 to hire her as chief. She had spent roughly 14 years as an Elberta officer earlier in her career before moving to the Fairhope Police Department, where she served as a corporal, and she had previously served as interim chief in Elberta. When she was hired, she became only the second active female police chief in Baldwin County. She succeeded Brandon Booker, who stepped down as chief to spend more time with his family and remained with the department as a school resource officer.
At her hiring, Joyner said she was glad to return to a community she knew well. “I spent a lot of my career here, made a lot of friends, know the community, know the kids that are now adults, so I’m excited to see where it’s going to go,” she said at the time.
Now it is Taylor’s turn to introduce himself. Library officials are inviting residents to meet the new chief and the department’s officers, learn more about how the department works, and connect with local law enforcement in a relaxed setting.
What Coffee with a Cop is — and isn’t
Coffee with a Cop is a national community policing program with a simple idea at its center: put officers and residents at the same table, with no agenda and no emergency, and let them talk.
The program began in March 2011 in Hawthorne, California. Then-Police Chief Robert Fager was looking for an alternative to traditional town hall meetings, which tend to draw only a handful of residents and often center on complaints. The Hawthorne department’s first event was held at a local McDonald’s, and the focus was on one-on-one conversations in a neutral space.
There are no speeches and no set topics. Residents can ask questions, raise concerns about their street or neighborhood, or simply get to know the people who patrol their town. Officers, in turn, get to meet residents outside of calls for service, when interactions are often tense or stressful.
The idea spread quickly. Coffee with a Cop events are now held in all 50 states and in countries across several continents, and a nonprofit organization supports agencies that want to start their own. Since 2016, National Coffee with a Cop Day has been observed on the first Wednesday of October, when agencies nationwide host events on the same day. This year, that date falls on Oct. 7 — two days after Elberta’s gathering.
A familiar idea on the Gulf Coast
Baldwin County agencies are no strangers to the program. Gulf Shores Police Chief Edward Delmore described its value in an article for the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Police Chief magazine, saying “it’s given us the ability to make deposits into the so-called community trust bank and it continues to pay dividends.”
That metaphor gets at why departments of every size keep holding these events. A small-town police department relies heavily on residents to report suspicious activity, share information and trust officers when something goes wrong. Those relationships are much easier to build over coffee than at the scene of a crash or a burglary.
In a town the size of Elberta, the chance to know officers by name is a real possibility. A single morning at the library can introduce a meaningful share of the department to the residents it serves.
About Elberta
Elberta is a small town in southern Baldwin County along U.S. Highway 98, about five miles east of Foley and roughly 10 miles west of the Florida state line. The 2020 census counted 1,974 residents.
The town has a distinctive history. The Baldwin County Colonization Company, a Chicago-based land company, organized in 1903, and the first settlers arrived in 1904. Many were farmers who had immigrated from Germany to the Midwest before moving south, and the community’s German heritage remains part of its identity. St. Mark’s Lutheran Church offered German-language services until 1976. Elberta voted to incorporate on Dec. 9, 1952.
That heritage is best known today through the Elberta German Sausage Festival, which began in the mid-1970s as a fundraiser for the town’s volunteer fire department and is held on the last weekends of March and October, drawing large crowds for sausage, polka music and craft vendors.
The library as a community hub
Hosting a police meet-and-greet at the library fits the role the Elberta Public Library already plays in town. The library describes its mission as promoting education and community through continued learning. Beyond books and DVDs, it offers public computers with internet access, free Wi-Fi, printing, copying and fax services, and notary services on request.
The library also runs programs that bring residents together, including a children’s summer reading program, storytime outreach to local preschools, and community activities such as puzzle days, dominoes and crafts. It relies on volunteers to operate, and it sells gently used books.
For questions about the library or the event, the library can be reached at 251-986-3069.
Tips for attending
- Arrive around 8:30 a.m. The event begins then, and coffee and breakfast refreshments will be available.
- Bring your questions. Coffee with a Cop is designed for casual conversation. It is a good time to ask about traffic concerns, neighborhood safety or how the department operates.
- Remember it is not for emergencies. Anyone who needs immediate police help should call 911 rather than waiting for a community event.
- Introduce yourself. The goal is simply for residents and officers to know one another.
The bottom line
With a new chief in place since July, the Elberta Police Department is taking a low-key approach to introductions: coffee, breakfast and conversation. Residents can meet Chief Andy Taylor and his officers at the Elberta Public Library beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5.