Posted: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 6:15 pm | Updated: 6:10 am, Wed Nov 6, 2013.
Morrisville police are facing criticism again after waiting five days to report that three borough juveniles allegedly had their Halloween candy stolen at gunpoint last Thursday night.The borough’s mayor, who oversees the police department, said Tuesday that she was told that some kids had candy stolen, but she did not recall being told that a gun was involved.The council president says that she was not told about the incident at all.
Nothing about the incident appeared on the Morrisville Police Department’s Facebook page Tuesday afternoon, though it has a post about the borough’s policy on trick-or-treating, which is supposed to end at 8 p.m.
The Courier Times was unsuccessful Tuesday in reaching Lt. Tom Herron, who is in charge of the police department, for comment. The robbery was included in the borough’s weekly police log as a three sentence item.
Police allege the three kids were returning from trick-or-treating shortly before 10:30 p.m. when they were robbed at gunpoint. The incident occurred on Dolor Drive, according to Mayor Rita Ledger.
In addition to “three full bags of candy,” the suspect stole a “Notre Dame” book bag and an iPod. The items were valued at a total of $135, police said. No other information was provided.
Morrisville police came under fire in August and September after they failed to immediately report two alleged child abduction attempts until days after they occurred. The lack of communication led to the creation of a town watch group that attracted 200 people to its first meeting last month.
After the second abduction attempt, Ledger, who did not run for re-election, also announced plans to meet with police and council to work out a strategy for publicizing future public safety incidents.
But council President Nancy Sherlock says she didn’t know about the alleged gunpoint robbery until a newspaper reporter told her. She complained that Ledger has not shared any police reports with council in months.
“I’m not happy about this if the mayor knew about this and didn’t tell us,” she said. “It’s a lack of communication or care.”
The most recent police news update Sherlock said that she received was that the Bucks County detectives have taken over the investigation into the Sept. 13 child abduction attempt and that information is not “jiving,” she said.
Ledger, too, expressed frustration at a lack of communication. She added that police are unsure if the gun used in the Halloween robbery was a toy, but “they’re treating it as if it were a (real) gun.”
“I’m not happy about the breakdown. We can all do better in regards to that,” she said, adding that police should release daily incident reports to the public.
Ledger added that she was hospitalized last week until Friday and that she was unable to communicate with council members.
The Morrisville police liaison to the newly formed Morrisville Town Watch group did not post the incident on the department’s new Facebook page because she was not given the information, Ledger said. The officer will now request a daily list of incident reports, Ledger said.
“We went to the extent of putting a Facebook page together to keep the residents informed. There is going to be some misses in the beginning until we get this ironed out,” Ledger added. “Being that this is one episode, we know where the breakdown took place.”
Town watch member Jen Holthenrichs said the Halloween robbery wasn’t reported to their group, so they couldn’t disseminate the information. But she added that the police recently have stepped up neighborhood patrols.
“I will say the increased police presence here on Halloween was fantastic,” Holthenrichs added.
Morrisville police were first criticized in August after police waited five days before reporting an alleged child abduction attempt involving an 8-year-old girl.
The girl escaped a kidnapping attempt in her West Bridge Street backyard after she bit the man on the hand, broke free and ran home with her brother.
The police force has been running without a department head since former Chief Jack Jones left in December. A temporary Director of Public Safety hired in the interim quit after two weeks citing a lack of cooperation.
17 comments:
"Ledger added that she was hospitalized last week until Friday and that she was unable to communicate with council members."
What a crock of sh_t.
Ledger can't leave fast enough. Hoping people who think Rivella's the problem will begin to see the epic failure Ledger has been.
Pretty sure Rivella at least has a cell phone that dials out.
So happy to see Rita, Eileen and Stout leaving their respective offices. They can't leave fast enough. It's been a non-stop screw-up with these people, and all they ever offer are lame excuses for their failures.
Those coming in to office have their hands full, but one suggestion for you is to fix the reporting of crime. The community wants to help, but when the cops, the council and mayor do nothing to get the word out, we are left with the mess we have now, and the message is that crime is easy in the ville. Facebook is a start, but please don;t leave it at that. Many people don;t use facebook, and some don't use the internet at all. Get the reports to the BCCT every day, circulate fliers, get out of your cars and walk the town, talking to people, knock on doors, make some effort to include the populace.
Amen!
Ms. B is retiring so there will be less police visiting her at the High School. Another waste of money is retiring, its about time. Ferrara and DeAngelo should be next in line.
I heard when they said Act 93 to her, she did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXILNncQwH4
Don't know what police told Ledger or when and that could be the main problem.
Ledger was at the mayor debate Saturday among a bunch of council members. On crutches but was moving around quite well. No sign of being incapacitated.
Police-mayor-public commmunications must be improved ASAP!
The biggest immediate improvement will come when Ledger officially leaves office. Sorry to say but she doesn't cut it and never did. Civilian life would do her a world and a town of good.
Rivella needs to and I believe will show that he won't be the problem when it comes to the police and public communications.If it's going to be a constant angry drum beat of retribution and union this, union that, disband police this, disband police that, well then I believe things will stay right in the sweet spot where they are now. By sweet spot, I mean toilet.
Morrisville mom: Son beaten by teens who stole candy
Posted: Wednesday, November 6, 2013 3:30 pm | Updated: 3:37 pm, Wed Nov 6, 2013.
By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer
The mother of one of three robbed Morrisville trick-or-treaters said Wednesday that six to eight older teens stole their Halloween candy — allegedly at gunpoint — and one boy was attacked when he didn’t drop his bag fast enough.
The woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said her son didn’t recognize any of the teens who robbed them. One boy had a skull mask, but it didn’t cover his face and the others weren't wearing masks or costumes, she said.
The three 13-year-old boys were trick-or-treating at around 8 p.m. on Sherman Lane near Doloro Drive when a group of “shady” looking kids started chasing them, the mom said. The boys approached an adult for help, but the older kids convinced the adult they were playing a Halloween prank and “just joking,” added.
The group continued to follow the three boys, who asked the older kids if they lived in the neighborhood. “We don’t live around here. We’re from the ‘hood,” one of them replied, according to her son.
Around 8:30 p.m., the woman said the older teens confronted the three boys and one suspect held up his arm and “appeared” to have a gun. The teen ordered the boys to drop their candy bag and also stole a book bag that contained an iPod and a black and silver backpack, the woman said. Police valued the items at $135.
The incident remains under investigation.
When one boy didn’t drop his bag fast enough, he was punched, stomped and kicked by others in the group, leaving him with a bloody nose, bruises and cuts. “He actually had the tread mark of a sneaker on his nose,” the woman said.
The attackers ran off after the other two boys ran back to the last house where they had stopped for candy and alerted the homeowner, the mother said.
The alleged incident is the third child-related since August where Morrisville police waited days before releasing information to the public.
Morrisville police notified the town’s mayor – who oversees the police department – of the Halloween incident, though Mayor Rita Ledger said Tuesday that she didn't recall being told a gun was involved. Police didn't notify council members or post the information on the department’s new Facebook page. The robbery report wasn't publicly released until Tuesday, when it was included as a three-sentence item in the borough’s weekly police log.
Morrisville police came under fire in August and September after they failed to immediately report two alleged child abduction attempts. The lack of communication led to the creation of a town watch group that attracted 200 people to its first meeting last month and borough officials' pledges of better communication with the community on public safety issues.
Town watch members say they weren't informed about the Halloween robbery, though two noted there was a strong police presence in the borough last Thursday night. The mother who called the newspaper about the robbery said she was told that police officers were stopping groups of kids after the robbery to see if they had any of the stolen items.
I have always been aware that life as we knew it in growing up does not exist and I have always taken precautions where our children are concerned.
Were the children trick or treating after 8pm and without parental supervision?
By using some basic precautions and adhering to the borough's trick or treating policy could the evening have ended differently for these three children?
I am in no way blaming the children for what happened to them. This is unfortunate and is something I'm sure the children involved will never forget.
I should include that we live near where this supposedly happened (I can't say because I wasn't there), and we did have a couple of groups of older boys come through. They didn't have any costumes and they were collecting their treats in their backpacks. They were playful with us and were respectful, as was everyone we encountered on the evening of Halloween.
Agreed. Let's take precautions and be vigilant, but let's not lose our heads. Good decisions usually don't come out of an atmosphere of hysteria.
Not trying to be sarcastic here, but what do other towns do? Like best practices. Seriously, what's missing here?
"Seriously, what's missing here?"
Elected leaders who are in it for the good of the community rather than the ones who are in for the glory and the title. Morrisville has had too many glorified "leadres" who revel in the title but not the responsibilities.
Yeah, there's that, for sure.
You're nuts. There is no glory in being elected to anything in Morrisville. Only hard work, cleaning up the messes of others and dealing with idiots who think they have all the answers without even knowing the questions.
Don't forget.. Don't ever forget... Once elected, you are a high public official, or so it is said. By one.
He may have been using a different definiton of "high".
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