{"id":1001959,"date":"2026-08-15T07:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T07:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001959\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T07:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T07:50:20","slug":"online-petition-pushes-police-parks-and-rec-department-to-crack-down-on-illegal-parties-at-devils-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001959\/","title":{"rendered":"Online petition pushes police, Parks and Rec Department to crack down on illegal parties at Devil\u2019s Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia police and the Parks and Recreation Department are cracking down on illegal swim parties at Devil\u2019s Pool in the Wissahickon in response to an online petition that capped years of complaints about the area.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The scenic Wissahickon Creek watershed sits in a valley between Roxborough and Chestnut Hill. It\u2019s one of the city\u2019s most heavily used parks, and one of its most popular spots is an outcropping above a deep spot in the creek known as Devil\u2019s Pool. <\/p>\n<p>Roxborough resident Jennifer Cass said what should be a sanctuary for all residents has become a trash-filled site for unauthorized parties. In a <a href=\"http:\/\/change.org\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Change.org petition<\/a>, she \u2014 and more than 800 others so far \u2014 demand that the city enforce laws against swimming, barbecuing, littering and noise.<\/p>\n<p>Parks and Rec Commissioner Sue Slawson has devised a plan to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are combining education, enforcement and visible patrols to reduce this illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said beginning this weekend, police will be in parking lots and at trailheads, and rangers will increase patrols. It follows the April drowning death of a man while swimming in Devil\u2019s Pool. Police spokesman Eric Gripp said the city is trying to prevent another tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>They will be issuing fines and citations \u2014 $300 for swimming or open flames, $100 for noise, and $50 per item for littering. There will also be more signs and visitor education. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to ruin anyone\u2019s good time. We\u2019re just trying to make sure everyone goes home alive,&#8221; Gripp said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia police and the Parks and Recreation Department are cracking down on illegal swim&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1001960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,369803,1448,2830,1311,401221,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,369805,153509],"class_list":["post-1001959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-devils-pool","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-parks-and-recreation-department","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wissahickon","tag-wissahickon-valley-park"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117098435546438627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}