Falls Police Defend Business From Anti-Cop Claims

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — Police in Falls Township are shutting down a false online rumor that a local black-owned business has refused service to its officers.

"Our department has received an overwhelming show of support from the residents and businesses in our jurisdiction," the Falls Township Police Department said Monday afternoon in a social media post. "None of the businesses in our township have refused service at any time to any of our officers.

"Any negative reviews to any businesses involving the treatment of our officers was not authorized by our department and is false."

In the comments of the post, police tagged Falls Banquet by EventRoostr, a wedding planning service at 80 West M-Y Ln. in the Morrisville section of Falls.

On a recent post by Falls Banquet, a commenter claimed the business refused to allow police officers to sit at outdoor picnic tables to eat their lunch.

"Stay away!! They are anti police!" wrote another.

Police did not specify in their post where else the rumor was being spread online.

The claims come in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His death touched off protests in all 50 states and across the globe calling for racial justice and an end to police violence.

Falls Banquet did not immediately respond to a request for a comment for this story. But, on the Facebook post, the company replied, saying the claims against it are false and local police "have access to our property and can request to meet any time they would like."

"(W)e are glad to say that Chief Wilcox and the Falls police department demonstrates what good community policing looks like," the company wrote. "We are proud to call them our local police force. The times we find ourselves in requires us to look introspectively and demand more of ourselves whether we are police or civilians.

"Once we learn to foster a respectful working relationship with one another we find that we have more that unites us than divides us. We have decided not to be silent during this time, but display what it means to have a good working relationship with our local law enforcement."

According to a profile in Bucks County Magazine, Falls Banquet owner T.C. Cuthbertson overcame childhood poverty and earned a degree from Liberty University in Virginia, where he majored in criminal justice.

In the interview, he highlights the diversity of his company's staff and customers.

"We are multicultural — African, Spanish. I’m African American. There are white people on our staff," he said to the magazine. "We have unique cultures. That welds all the different cultures into a unique dynamic. Our multicultural clientele introduces us to things, and we see what we can introduce to others."