New Police Officer Sworn In & Department To Replace Crown Vics

Officer Gabriel Fisher taking the oath of office. Credit: Middletown Township

Middletown Township welcomed its newest police officer earlier this month as Gabriel Fisher took the oath of office during the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Fisher, a 2019 graduate of Bensalem High School, joined the department after serving honorably in the U.S. Air Force as a member of the security forces until 2023. He then worked at Coca-Cola while going through school.

“Gabe realized his true calling, which was to become a police officer,” said Chief of Police Joe Bartorilla, who introduced Fisher to the board. “He worked hard through our hiring process and is now a member of our police department.”

Fisher began training at the Montgomery County Police Academy on Jan. 2.

“We’re excited to have Officer Gabriel Fisher as the newest member of MTPD,” Bartorilla said. “We look forward to him serving and protecting the citizens of Middletown Township.”

After taking the oath, Fisher was congratulated the supervisors and other members of the department in attendance.

Later in the meeting, the supervisors approved the purchase of five new Ford Police Interceptor SUVs at a total cost of $341,495.

Police Capt. Pete Feeney explained the new vehicles will replace aging cars, including two Crown Victorias from 2007 and 2011, two 2015 Ford Explorers, and a 2018 Dodge Charger.

“As you know, with our maintenance and fleet management, we get a lot more life out of our cars than is typical,” Feeney said. “So they’d be replacing five older cars, all of which are well in excess of 100,000 miles.”

Middletown Township is one of the last departments in Bucks County to continue to use Ford Crown Victorias, which were an iconic police vehicle that ended production in 2011.

A Middletown Township police Crown Victoria in service in 2012.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

The township secured a $234,105 grant from the Redevelopment Authority to offset the cost, leaving $107,390 to be funded by the township.

Feeney noted that last year, the department had to purchase sedans due to the unavailability of SUVs. This year’s purchase will help bolster the SUV fleet for inclement weather response.

“We utilize them all the time as regular patrol vehicles,” Feeney said. “They don’t sit just for inclement weather, but certainly they are helpful when we have the inclement weather.”

The supervisors also approved the purchase of five new in-car computers for $22,932.55 to replace older models that can no longer keep up with current technology demands.

“The older computers just aren’t able to keep up with the technology at this point,” Feeney said, citing the need to run computer-aided dispatch, e-ticketing, and various state and federal record systems.

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