Unruly Juvenile Conduct 'Hot Topic' In Hatboro: Police Chief

HATBORO, PA —The juvenile gangs are out in borough.

For the past few weeks, borough streets, neighborhoods, and businesses have been swarmed by juveniles who some say in community Facebook posts are wreaking havoc on the borough.

Before Monday night's Borough Council meeting, Patch noticed two such groups of children and teenagers who were hanging out at two separate sites on bicycles.

One group was at the Pennypack Facility on Spring Avenue. The other was at the new Wawa convenience store on York Road.

While neither group made waves, a Wawa worker did ask the bicycle group to get off the store's property.

Police Chief Mark Ruegg addressed the recent juvenile conduct at the council meeting.

"Juveniles are a hot topic," the chief told the council. "We have a number of cases with ongoing investigations. This is on our radar. Things are being addressed."

Ruegg said the Hatboro Borough Police Department is paying extra attention to the York Road business district where there has been an increase in juvenile activity stretching from the McDonald's on North York Road to the Wawa on South York Road.

The chief said that criminal mischief charges or having the juvenile conduct addressed with parents could be coming in the next few weeks.

On The Real Voices of Hatboro Facebook page, one resident posted about how they were selling a lawn mower to an older man at the new Wawa when a group of young children/teens on bicycles started to scream disrespectful comments and harass the poster while showing the lawn mower.

The resident said the group was riding their bikes and popping wheelies around cars.

After being warned about the police being called, the group continued to shout at them.

"A mother stood outside of her car observing the situation and stated that she was standing outside of her vehicle in fear that those kids would say something to her children," the Facebook poster said. "Is this Hatboro? Are you kidding me? The last time I checked, this wasn't South Philly."