The phenomenon of homelessness is greater in Bucks County than it has ever been. 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.
As a police department, along with our Human Services Co-Responder, Cara Gadzinski, we have regular proactive and reactive engagement with both the transient and resident homeless population in Falls Township. These 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 period of time isn’t suspicious, sadly, they just have nowhere else to go.
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.
We have created the first annual Falls Township Police Department’s Direct Appeal to Support Bucks County’s Homeless (DASH). We have liaisoned with Bucks County organizations (listed on the flyer) that support the community-based homeless population as well as those supported in the emergency shelter.
We 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.
