Newport Police Host Grounds for Conversation Coffee Drop-In Feb. 26 at Snowbird

The Newport Police Department hosted "Grounds for Conversation" Thursday morning, Feb. 26, 2026, at Snowbird Mountain Coffee Co. in downtown Newport, inviting residents to drop in for informal conversations with officers from the chief to detectives and patrolmen. Chief Scott Lamb said in Newport Plain Talk, "I've been a police officer here for about 28 or 29 years now, but we've not really had a big outreach in the community."

Plain Talk described the event as a deliberate "caffeine and colloquy strategy," with Assistant Chief Matthew Elliott and Detective Captain Josh Holt among the department staff on hand. Newport Plain Talk photos 022826_NPT_copscoffee_jte-p1 and 022826_NPT_copscoffee_jte-p2 show community members gathered at Snowbird Mountain Coffee Co., including Tiana Payne speaking with Assistant Chief Elliott and Detective Captain Holt, and a broader grouping of residents conversing with officers on Thursday morning.

Organizers set the tone for an unstructured drop-in format so people could meet officers, ask questions and discuss public-safety concerns; Plain Talk and the original event brief both characterize it as a casual outreach to encourage face-to-face exchanges. While the coverage names Chief Lamb, Assistant Chief Matthew Elliott and Detective Captain Josh Holt as pictured participants, the Plain Talk item does not list a full roster of attending officers or an attendance count for the session.

Some operational details remain unspecified in public coverage. Plain Talk only describes the session as occurring "Thursday morning" and does not provide a precise start or end time, and no street address for Snowbird Mountain Coffee Co. was published in the item. Chief Lamb framed the outreach as a broader change in approach for the department, saying in Newport Plain Talk, "That's one of the things when I became chief of police that I really wanted to start doing. I feel like we don't have all the answers, and I've been talking to people here and that's one of the things we want to know is what are we failing at or what are we doing good at so we can do better at every end."

The Newport event fits a pattern of local law-enforcement coffee outreach: the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is running a separate "Quarterly Coffee with a Deputy – Newport" on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. at Ultralife Cafe, 715 NW Beach Drive, Newport, OR 97365. The sheriff’s office post notes these county events recur every three months and are intended to "provide a time, space, and coffee for community members to meet our team and share what’s on their minds."

Newport Police framed "Grounds for Conversation" as the start of more active community outreach under Chief Lamb’s leadership, with officers and residents exchanging concerns and feedback in a downtown coffee shop setting. Photos and the quoted remarks published by Newport Plain Talk provide the public record of the Feb. 26 session and identify participants for follow-up coverage.