History of Townwatch

Townwatch was started in 1981, as a Community based effort to patrol Pennsbury township.  In its formative years, it took up to 6 people for each patrol, to be able to cover the township successfully. Two people in each car was the norm, and Duty Officers back at the township building. At that time they used UHF type walkie-talkie devices to communicate from the patrol cars to the base. From there the people back at the base would contact the State Police if they needed to report an incident. The patrols were done at predictable times, and in the beginning it was quite an effort to organize the patrollers.

In 1999 Townwatch Board decided to revamp the patrolling effort, headed by Jim Sears at the time. They ran test patrols to try out the idea, of what is now today's present method. This is when they started having one driver in a patrol vehicle. Verizon has donated a phone for each patrol person to use, to directly contact the State Police of any reportable incidents. Also they started to allow a patrol volunteer to do his patrolling any time of the day, any day of the week. I'm sure the crooks find this annoying, but we think it was smart. This streamlining of the patrollers, has had other benefits, such as increased membership, and increased contributions. Membership went from 20+ to over 80 in about a year, and with the increased funds, the Townwatch Board started an Outreach program in 2004, which has donated a Breathalyzer to the PA State Police. Since then the Outreach program has been able to expand to more life saving equipment donations, to Longwood Fire Company, and Pennsbury Township. They also provide support to the Community in the form of the 55-Alive driver training course, Camp Cadet, and Scholarships for Law Enforcement Studies.