Police departments all over the Hudson Valley were taking part in National Coffee With a Cop Day Wednesday.

Members of the Yonkers Police Department met up with folks at Paxos Grill Café on Main Street this morning as part of the national movement.

The idea behind the event is for police to get the chance to meet with people in a neutral spot, like a local restaurant, and simply get to know each other over a cup of coffee.

Law enforcement officials say most people meet police during a crisis situation, but that everyone tends to open up in a relaxed setting and progress can be made.

"This is a great opportunity to have a better understanding between the community and the police, so this is definitely a go for me," says Marcia Cooper, of Yonkers.

"Police are people like everyone else. We don't just want to see people when something goes wrong, we want to see people under social circumstances like this, when we can just sit down, have a cup of coffee and speak," says Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza.