About 100 Santa Clarita Valley residents Wednesday filtered in and out of a Stevenson Ranch Starbucks for Coffee with a Cop, a community outreach event hosted by SCV Sheriff’s station and CHP officials.

The two-hour joint event was a first-of-its-kind for Sheriff’s Station and California Highway Patrol officials, who previously had been holding separate, informal meetings with the public.

“I think it just opens up the communication and it opens up any border between us and the public, and it sets us up on equal ground,” said Officer Josh Greengard of the Newhall area CHP Station. “They’re not intimidated to come up and talk to us.”

And residents brought questions about traffic, youth outreach programs and in general, community questions, Greengard said.

Capt. Roosevelt Johnson and CHP Capt. Ed Krusey were also on hand to talk with coffee drinkers.

“This one in particular is about getting both the Sheriff’s Department and CHP together to make sure the community knows that all public safety (officials) are working together for the safety of this community,” Johnson said, “and so we’re here to answer questions.”

One resident discussed a handicap parking concern for about 10 minutes and then thanked Johnson for the explanation of the station’s zone leader program and policy about handicap parking enforcement, the woman thanked him and left.

Some of the common concerns included questions about traffic and who to contact in the event of a situation, officials said.

“This is an opportunity for us to reach some of the community members who don’t know about (the station’s social media efforts),” Johnson added.

Officers and deputies hope to host several throughout the year at various parts of the SCV.

“It’s good to interact with different officers and deputies, and you see these guys out on the road, and the public is saying, ‘Hey, I saw him at the coffee shop.’ It’s always good to meet the deputies and the officers in your area.”