Bristol Mayor Makes First Public Comments Since Election Loss, Says There is Still Work to be Done

The Bristol Borough Police Department will be implementing a new body and dash cam camera program in 2026.

Borough Council voted last month to approve  just under $280,000 contract with Axon Enterprise Inc., one of the countries largest police technology providers.

The program costs just under $56,000 annually through 2030. Officials expect to pay for the program using grant funds.

Police Chief Joe Moors told  council the department spent more than 18 months evaluating vendors before selecting the Axon system.

“I’d just like to say first off that the mayor, myself and the council has been working on this project for over a year and a half now,” Moors said. “Met with multiple vendors and really just looked at all the options and picked out the best product that I think will suit us here in Bristol Borough.”

The department opted for the hardware without integrated artificial intelligence features.

Moors said this decision was made to keep costs manageable and to avoid legal complexities, including potential courtroom challenges regarding AI-generated summaries of police contacts

AI features could be added in the future, Moors said, the current priority is reliable documentation.

“This approach provides the essential benefits of reliable video documentation while keeping maintenance, training and legal risk manageable for our small department,” Moors said.

Moors told Lower Bucks Source recently he expects the body cam/video cam effort to be implemented by the spring of 2026.

We have to train everyone on the uses of the new interfaces and update our departmental policies to reflect the use of body cam/dash cam by our officers, Moors said.

The brand-new Bristol Borough High School Track is expected to be fully completed by the spring of 2026, officials told Lower Bucks Source Monday.

Business Manager for the Bristol Borough School District Christopher McHugh said the project is now in the hands of the borough.

“The expectation is that the track will be completed by the Spring. Since the School District signed the deed over to the borough they are handling working with the engineer to ensure completion,”  he said.

In May Bristol Borough Council awarded a $511,250 contract to American Athletic Track and Turf for the resurfacing of the aging track at Bristol High School. The following month officials said they were working on potential design changes that would relocate both the start and finish line and the long and triple jump events to more viewer-friendly locations.

“There were some recommendations to see if we could make some additional modifications so that the track is how we want it to be for the foreseeable future and we don’t have to redo this again,” said Amanda Fuller, the borough’s engineer.

The borough took over the project after the school district was unable to obtain state funding. The arrangement made Bristol eligible for a grant that is funding the track overhaul which was awarded through the efforts of State Sen. Steve Santarsiero and State Rep. Tina Davis in 2024, coming in at $485,000.

Officials said  the existing  track is approximately 25 years old and has deteriorated in recent years.

Angelo Quattrocchi, who volunteered his time to help research track options along with Bristol Borough High School track coach Ron McGinn visited several track and field facilities in the region and Harry S Truman’s track in Bristol Township.

The track was stripped down in June and subsequently had a new layer of black top laid down sometime in August.

The project when originally presented was said to be completed by the time schools reopened for the fall as officials hoped.

A June 2025 picture of the Bristol High School track stripped down to dirt level
Credit: Jeff Bohen Lower Bucks Source

Bristol Borough Council voted to approve the disability-related retirement request of Sgt. Alan “Hank” Hankison who served as a full-time police officer for 25 years after serving five years in a part-time role at Monday night’s meeting.

Simply called “Hank” by law enforcement colleagues, friends and alike, the big, burly cop who patrolled Bristol’s nooks and crannies for decades injured his back in November of 2022, officials said.

Known for his public facing gruff demeanor “Hank” also had a soft side when it came to the needs of visitors to Bristol where the mantra is “Welcome Friend.”

In 2014, Hankinson assisted a woman with a car full of kids that ran out of gas on Mill Street. He filled up a gas can and paid for it too,  saving the day for the ever grateful woman, which this reporter covered in a story for another publication.

In 2018, he was honored by the Borough, for helping rescue an intoxicated woman who fell into the Delaware River and held on to her in the swift current until additional first responders came to assist with completing the water rescue.

Then in the winter of  2022 Kevin McCarthy lost his mother. He penned this letter of thanks citing Hankinson’s great care and delicate sensitivity in his families time of loss:

With all the hate and negative news police officers receive, I would like to personally thank one. On Friday, February 4, my Mom passed away at home and Sgt Hankinson responded to the call. When he arrived, he showed nothing, but complete compassion to myself and my mother. He went above and beyond, to call the funeral home and her family physician to notify them of her passing. He showed kindness and empathy to the family and friends that were present. Before leaving, Hankinson said, ‘if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to call.

Hankinson returned that sense of gratitude and support to those who knew his son had passed away unexpectedly several years ago.

“Thanks man that means a lot to me” he said when greeted by a resident

The Sgt. also had a snarky yet playful side when making a point about news stories. He shouted from his police SUV, “You got the story wrong, Bohen.”

Hankinson would say years later he did that because he could! And then he’d drive off to his next call, cackling about the point he had made.

Today’s next call for Sgt. Alan “Hank” Hankinson is now officially retirement.