Expect a parking ticket if you’re parked on the wrong side of the street in Langhorne Borough. And, consider this your only warning.
Borough council advised Chief of Police Steven Mawhinney to actively ticketing vehicles who park in clearly-designated “No Parking” areas, park the wrong way on one-way streets, or park against traffic on two-way streets.
Parking against traffic is a safety issue, according to borough manager Scott Mitchell an Mawhinney, because it is difficult to properly see the road when pulling out of the parking space.
Council member Scott Haldeman suggested police begin by issuing written warnings before formal tickets. Mawhinney advised the borough does not have any right now, but they could be drafted and printed.
Ultimately, however, council recommended police begin ticketing.
“A ticket is enough of a warning,” suggested council President David Kaiser. “If they get one, they won’t do it again.”
Council also requested a draft ordinance to increase the fine for discharging a firearm. The current fine is $300, and officials are seeking $600, the maximum they’re allowed to make it.
The idea came after a resident on Pine Street shot an AR-15 on New Year’s Eve, according to borough Chief of Police Steven Mawhinney. The person alleged they had never shot the gun before and wanted to try it out.
With no members of the public around at the time, and because the person discharged the gun into a stack of wood, as opposed to an open area or into the air, no disorderly conduct or reckless endangerment charges applied.
Regardless, both council and Mawhinney want to discourage the practice. Mawhinney pointed out that the current $300 fine, enacted around 20 years ago, is not enough of a deterrent.
Borough solicitor Anne Porter will draft an ordinance for the council to consider at an upcoming meeting.
In other police news, incidents called into police rose from 419 handled by borough police in 2015 to 549 last year. Incidents handled by state police went from 58 to 90 in the same time span.
The increases were across the board, said Mawhinney, with no significant trends or other reasons why the numbers would change.
“We’re up, but why we’re up, I don’t know,” he said.
