The Newtown Township Police Department would like to thank ALL of our residents and businesses who have supported us through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the recent instances of protest and civil unrest occurring around the country. It is very reassuring to our employees, especially the police officers on the street in Newtown, to know they are supported by the community that they serve. 

• The tragic death of Mr. Floyd is unacceptable and our hearts and prayers go out to Mr. Floyd’s family. The actions of the officers were wrong and those involved are not representative of the police profession, especially here at Newtown Township. 

• The civil unrest, including the destruction of property and assaults on law enforcement are also not representative of the public we serve. Together we can and must strive to eliminate both.   

• This past week, both at the Garden of Reflection and in the center of Newtown, a peaceful vigil and a protest were held in Lower Makefield & Newtown townships with many of our neighbors and families attending. We support these initiatives and the right to peacefully protest.

• Your Police Officers, along with other local police departments worked to ensure the safety of participants. The streets were left clean, no acts of violence occurred, and no damage to property was reported. Our officers were thanked by many for their professionalism and for their assistance during both events.   

• The Newtown Township Police Department takes great pride in our reputation in the community as we protect and serve all the residents of Newtown Township.  With that pride comes the weight we bear, to maintain a professional department that abides by the best practices of law enforcement and to ensure that equal protection.   

• One of the ways that we accomplish our best practices approach is by maintaining our “Accreditation” status. The Commission initially granted this status in 2013, and re-evaluated every three years. We just received our Re-Accreditation again in July, 2019. Our accredited status is a source pride for the department because there are over 1,117 law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and Newtown Township Police Department is one of only 117 agencies that have attained accredited status.

• As part of our accreditation standard and also our department policy, we train at least annually on our use of force and deadly force policies. We also have a bias-based policing policy that requires annual administrative reviews of data related to agency compliance to our policing directive. The topic of and policy against bias-based policing is trained on as a department and is also included in the Field Training Curriculum for all new hires.

• As your Chief of Police, I keep apprised of current events that involve the law enforcement community and strive to maintain a community-based policing approach in order to allow the residents of Newtown Township to have trust in our department. I frequently hold coffee with a cop events, and attend other community programs where we can hold a conversation and mitigate any issues.

• As Chief, I always communicate teachable moments to the officers, and the current events involving George Floyd is an example of one of those moments that was immediately addressed.

• Our training teaches us not only to do better, and to be held to a higher standard. It is my responsibility as Chief to ensure our officers exceed those expectations. We do NOT tolerate racial bias, discrimination, or the unjust use of force.

• These certainly are challenging times that the country is faced with.  That being said, the Newtown Township Police Department will continue to provide a high level of professionalism that the community deserves, and we will continue our work to protect the citizens, businesses and property of this community that we love. We will always continue to train and strive to be the best we can, in order for the community to continue to have faith in us.

• We need our community to talk and listen to us and to each other, get to know each other, value each other, respect each other, and build on that. Only then will we truly succeed.

• We will continually uphold the constitutional rights of all persons and Honor our Oath of Office, while asking for your continued support.

• As Pope Francis mentioned in his speech on June 3, “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form, and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost”.

We are in this together! One Mission - One Team!

Thank you!