Homelessness Program Launched By Falls Twp. Police Department

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA —The Falls Township Police Department fights crime every day. Now it's battling homelessness.

The police department has created its first annual Falls Township Police Department’s Direct Appeal to Support Bucks County’s Homeless (DASH).

The drive runs through Nov. 1.

"The phenomenon of homelessness is greater in Bucks County than it has ever been," the police department said in a press release. "Our mission and role as law enforcement has us regularly encountering these individuals and families which often provides us opportunities to engage them with Bucks County service organizations that can provide them with much-needed resources to support themselves."

The police department —along with our Human Services Co-Responder Cara Gadzinski —has had regular proactive and reactive engagement with both the transient and resident homeless population in the township.

The encounters often involve only frustrating temporary solutions, such as checking on their welfare before relocating them or determining a suspicious person who has been at a location for a while isn’t suspicious, sadly, they just have nowhere else to go, police said.

Because of the tremendous work carried out by Street Outreach, Street Medicine, and Advocates for the Homeless and Those in Need, to name a few, we have expanded our historical interactions to include serving as a conduit for those experiencing homelessness to receive resources from these organizations.

With such a growing homeless population, we know these resources are finite and in need of sustained replenishment to provide for all.

Police have liaised with Bucks County organizations that support the community-based homeless population as well as those supported in the emergency shelter.

Neighboring businesses, faith-based entities, and civic organizations have partnered with the police department allowing for a donation box to be placed.

They include:

• Falls Township Police Department, 430 Lincoln Highway, Fairless Hills, PA 19030
• Saint Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, 325 South Oxford Valley Rd., Fairless Hills, PA 19030
• Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 130 Levittown Parkway, Levittown, PA 19055
• First United Methodist Church of Fairless Hills, 840 Trenton Rd., Fairless Hills, PA 19030
• Fallsington Library, 139 Yardley Avenue, Fallsington, PA 19054
• American Legion Post 834, 300 Yardley Avenue, Fallsington, PA 19054
• Old Navy, 140 Commerce Boulevard, Fairless Hills, PA 19030
• Falls Township Senior Center, 282 Trenton Road, Fairless Hills, PA 19030
• Extreme Fitness, 8724 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA 19030
• Thornridge Hardware, 8730 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA 19054

Police are still seeking any additional interested partners to allow the placement of a donation box! If interested, please contact Amy Walton at a.walton@fallstwppd.com or 215-302-3341.

(Falls Township Police Department)