Cops, Courts & Fire -Bristol Borough

Encampment Cleaned Up But Problems Persist for Homeless Folks

Published

4 years ago

August 8, 2022

Last week’s cleanup of the homeless encampment area off of Green Lane in Bristol Borough created quite a stir, with the aim of tidying up the area and referring folks to area services.

The cleanup operation involving Bristol Borough Public Works, Police, Emergency Management,Bucks Co-Responders with major operational help from Denucci Excavating was completed by Wednesday.

The work done at the sites makes it almost unrecognizable to the eye, except the work truck tire markings identify the locations where the cleanup was performed.

Days before the cleanup public safety officials were out re-posting warning signs along the walkways and in and around the areas frequented by persons who are displaced.

In recent weeks the site came into focus once again due to the arrest of one man for demanding “meth’ and setting fires at the site.

There was also the reported death of a man due to an overdose in April.

East ward council members Lorraine Cullen and Gregg Pezza at council meetings have discussed their concerns about the encampment. Both have sought discussions with area officials on how to help solve encampment issues while also getting help for those living at the site.

Credit: Jeff Bohen Lower Bucks Source

We are not looking to harm those folks” Pezza said earlier this summer. We really do want to help. At the same time we can’t have people living back there. It’s not a healthy situation.

Credit: Diana Munier

Cullen and Pezza also expressed concerns about folks from the site committing alleged thefts in their ward also.

When cleanup operations began Monday morning no one was at each of the sites residing in the area behind Wawa and Lumberman Associates. As resource measure Chief of Police Joe Moors requested county co-responders be on hand to facilitate resource coordination for those seeking help and support.

Moors who has been engaging those living in the encampment areas, offering linkage to any and all services said the cleanup isn’t meant to mean in any way.

“We’ve been working with multiple agencies to help relocate the individuals living in the woods to a safe place to live. No one has been living there for the past weeks. The area is (was) full of trash, propane tanks, and a couple of abandoned vehicles. The area is being cleaned up and made safe,” the Chief of Police said.

Credit: Jeff Bohen Lower Bucks Source

The 2022 Point in Time Count conducted by Bucks County earlier this year showed a dramatic rise in people experiencing homelessness in throughout the county.

According to the report, the count found 427 people sleeping in emergency shelters, residing in transitional housing or living outdoors. The figure is a 48% increase from last year’s count, and is the county’s first recorded increase in homelessness in six years.

Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source

A major contributing factor cited in the report for the rise in homelessness in Bucks County were the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, where jobs were lost. Additionally, once the CDC moratorium on evictions was halted almost a year ago to the day, the floodgates, so to speak opened up and an untold number of folks who once had jobs, were now being evicted.

Even with Bucks County’s best efforts to stem the tide of pending and newly fled evictions with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

According to a WHYY report, from earlier this year, Southeastern Pennsylvania Legal Aid said about 2,000 eviction notices were filed in Bucks County in 2020, and almost 3,000 were filed in 2021. In just the last three months, 860 have been filed.

Another factor known among those displaced and often discussed, was the move by Bensalem Township to stop SEPTA buses from entering Neshaminy Mall in April of 2021, which many say led them to Bristol.

Philadelphia’s problems were being dropped off here, and it became problematic for us,” Bensalem Township Police Director Fred Harran told CBS 3 at the time.

The unintended consequence was an influx of those traveling to Neshamminy Mall now redirecting their travels to either the B-129 or B-128 bus. Each travels through the Bristol area with the 129 operating until just before midnight.

Credit: Submitted Ad

Over the last two years Lower Bucks Source has spoken to a myriad of folks who say that’s how they wound up in the Bristol area.

None of those folks wanted to be identified by this publication in stories, but made it clear that’s how they came to find a “home” in Bristol.

Ami K, who was staying in the wooded area said she came back to the site to collect her belongings with a friend named “Dave,” an older gentleman on the morning the clean up launched,

She said she’s originally from Montgomery County and came to Bristol with her friend months after she lost her home health care job.

“We had no idea this was happening today. Glad I wasn’t back there when this all started” holding two plastic bags under her arms, while pushing a shopping cart.

Ami said she’s been living in woods at different locations “for months now.” She said finding help has been next to impossible because she doesn’t have a cell phone to make the needed calls to access help and services.

“It’s just an endless mess” she said, walking off, provided with contact information for help.

On Sunday night Lower Bucks Source revisited the encampment sites finding no one there, but many wandering in and around the area by bike or on foot and the site entirely cleaned up.

Several individuals interviewed by this publication haven’t been seen since the cleanup launched last week.

If you are experiencing a housing crisis you can call The Bucks County Housing Link 1-800-810-4434 or Advocates for the Homeless and Those in Need 215-550-3868 for help.

Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source

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Cops, Courts & Fire -Bristol Borough

Bristol Borough Fire Chiefs Statement on Dorrance Street Fire

Published

3 days ago

March 3, 2026

Jeff Bohen

Bristol Borough Fire Chief Herb Slack on Tuesday morning released the following statement on last nights Dorrance Street Fire.

It’s only been edited for style:

At 6:11 PM, Bristol Borough Fire Companies were dispatched to 340 Dorrance St for a dwelling fire with possible entrapment. The first arriving fire chief found two semi-detached dwellings with exposures on both sides. He immediately asked for the second alarm because of the volume of fire in the two dwellings and rapidly spreading to the exposures.

Fire companies quickly stretched hose lines to protect the exposures and begin extinguishing the fire in the two dwelling. A third alarm was added for additional manpower.

Credit: Submitted

During fire fighting operations, it was determined that there was a one resident had not gotten out of the dwelling. Due to the intense fire, with the first floors fully involved, firefighters were not able to enter the dwelling to attempt to rescue a residents who was wheel-chair bound and had been unable to escape. There was one additional civilian injury and that person was transported to the hospital with possible smoke inhalation. There were no firefighter injuries.

Credit: Joe Nelson

Fire was placed under control at 7:39 PM. Fire companies remained on location for several hours due to the extensive overhauling to ensure the fire was extinguished. The last fire company left at 11:26 PM.

Mutual aid companies supporting fire fighting operations including fire companies from Bristol Township, Bensalem, Falls Township, Middletown Township, Morrisville and Burlington County.

The fire remains under investigation by Bristol Borough and the Bucks County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Cops

Emergency Crews Prepare for Incoming Blizzard as Lower Bucks Municipalities Declare Storm Plans

Published

2 weeks ago

February 21, 2026

Joanne Ames

Credit:: Veinna Carcel

Lower Bucks municipalities have declared disaster/snow emergencies in advance of the expected snow storm that the National Weather Service says will dump anywhere between 14 to 18 inches on the area.

A winter storm warning is still in effect from Sunday, Feb 22 to Monday, Feb 23.

Each municipality has its own link. For more information and updates, please click on their associated link.

Bensalem Township – Disaster Emergency declared immediately for the pending snow storm. Click here to see more details.

Bristol Borough – Snow information/requirements have been posted on their website. Click here to see the details.

Bristol Township – Snow Emergency effective 12 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026 through 12 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Click here to see more details.

Falls Township – Snow Emergency starts Sunday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. and expires on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 6 a.m. Click here for details.

Langhorne Borough – Snow Emergency starts Sunday, Feb. 22 at noon until Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. No parking. Click here for details.

Lower Makefield Township – Snow information has been posted on Meta. Click here to see the details.

Middletown Township – Snow Emergency is in effect from Sunday, Feb. 22 at 12 p.m. to Monday, Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. . Click here to see details.

Morrisville Borough – Snow Emergency is in effect from Sunday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. to Monday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. Click here to see the details.

Newtown Township – A Snow Emergency is in effect from 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026 until 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. Click here to see the details.

Penndel Borough – Snow Emergency has been declared from 12 p.m. on Sunday, February 22, 2026, through 12 p.m. on Monday, February 23, 2026. Click here for more details and click here for more on the ordinance.

Tullytown Borough – Snow Emergency proclamation in effect from Sunday Feb. 22 – 6 p.m. to Monday Feb. 23 – 6 p.m. Click here to see more details.

Warminster Township – Disaster Emergency has been declared for the incoming snow storm, effective Sunday Feb. 22, 2026 at 12 p.m. through Tuesday, Feb. 24,2026 at 12 p.m.. Click here to see the details and click here to see the declaration from Township Manager Tom Scott.

Yardley Borough – Snow Emergency proclamation in effect from Sunday Feb. 22 – 4 p.m. to Monday Feb. 23 – 4 p.m. . Click here to see the details. and click here to see declaration/other information from Mayor Caroline Thompson.

The primary concern is safety. Take care of yourselves and check on neighbors and those who may be vulnerable.

Please stay safe, take all necessary precautions, and keep your devices charged.

Click here for updates from the National Weather Service

Click here for PECO’s outage map.

Cops, Courts & Fire -Bristol Borough

Cops: Bristol Man Charged with Robbery; Suspect Identified Via Sports Jacket Seen on Video During Altercation

Published

2 weeks ago

February 17, 2026

Jeff Bohen

A Bristol Borough man was taken into custody and jailed Friday night accused of robbery, simple assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct stemming from a Jan. 26 incident at the Sunoco Gas Station on Bath Road and Rt 13.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Bristol Borough Police were dispatched to the gas station/convenience store at 10:45 p.m by 911 after the assault/robbery was called in by gas station staff.

Responding police officers met with the employee who said two men entered the store and one attempted to rob him, assaulted him, damaged the store and then fled on foot. The employee said one of the two suspects reached through the safety glass that is usually in place during night hours, punching him in the face and neck area several times and breaking his glasses, the criminal complaint alleges.

Officers noted, in the probable cause, visible bruising on the employee’s face from the robbery assault. In addition, there were a number of store items damaged.

The victim told police the direction the suspects fled which officers canvassed and came up empty in the suspect search.

On Jan 27 officers reviewed gas station security video footage (no audio) showing, according to the probable cause, Mark Rodriguez (who police had yet to identify) getting into an argument with the victim, reaching underneath the security window, pulling it up and pummeling the victim.

The unidentified man with Rodriguez remained nearby but was on his cell phone, police said, at the time of the assault and was wearing a Bristol High School sports jacket.

Bristol Borough Police identified the owner of the jacket (a minor) with help from school district officials. The minor provided a written statement to police identifying a family member of his/hers (Rodriguez) as the suspect who assaulted the Sunoco Gas Station employee and that he was present for the altercation.

The written statement was facilitated by Bristol Borough Middle/High School Lead Teacher Mike Poploskie, and sent via email to lead investigator/officer Chris Tehan. Subsequently police were able to confirm Rodriguez’s identity and that he lives on the 150 block of Otter Street.

About one week later, police met with the parents of the student who was present at the altercation in which the minor was interviewed by police.

The youngster provided police with a “voluntary” statement confirming his/her previous written statement and allowing police to have a warrant issued for Rodriguez’s arrest.

Rodriguez was arraigned by on-call District Judge Mark D. Douple last Friday on robbery and related counts. He set bail at 10 percent of $75,000.00 and remanded Rodriguez to Bucks County Jail until his next hearing date, currently set for Feb 25.