February 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 29
One in an occasional series
NJSACOP LEGENDS & PIONEERS
Chief Philip Bell
Kearny Police Department
leadership positions with the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police [ NJSACOP ] as well as the International Association of Chiefs of Police [ IACP ]. In short order he became one the nation’ s most prominent voices for professional police leadership and the advancement of modern police techniques and was a lifelong advocate for keeping politics out of policing – one of the most pressing issues in the early decades of the 20th century.
A year into his membership in the NJSACOP, he was appointed chair of a committee working on the development and promotion of“ two radio stations over which emergency police calls may be broadcast.” He would maintain his focus on this topic even while other pressing issues at the national level competed for his energy and attention. During his term as IACP President, Chief Bell worked with NJ State Police Superintendent Schwarzkopf to promote a bill in the New Jersey State Legislature“ providing for installation of a telegraph-typewriter system of broadcasting police alarms.”
In 1903, Philip T. Bell joined the Kearny Police Department. He was promoted to Chief on May 23, 1924. He would spend the remainder of his life in service to his community, his agency, and his colleagues. His was a long and very consequential term as Chief of Police, and he would leave a lasting legacy in New Jersey and the nation.
Phil Bell was born in June 1883 in Jersey City, NJ, the eldest son of Edmund and Emma Bell. The family would soon move to Kearny, where Edmund would eventually serve for five years as Fire Chief. Phil was appointed a Kearny Police“ chanceman” in 1903 and was made a permanent member of the department in 1905. He was promoted to sergeant in 1912 and was named lieutenant six years later. In 1920 he was promoted to the rank of captain and named chief upon the retirement of Chief Walter Oliver in 1924. Almost immediately he assumed
Another topic that occupied Chief Bell’ s attention from his earliest days as chief was traffic safety – and the related issue of“ killing tickets.” The 1920s saw an exponential growth of automobile use in New Jersey, and the beginning of the notorious issue in the state of traffic, traffic enforcement, and traffic safety. Chief Bell was a staunch advocate for the modernization of traffic control systems and strong enforcement of the traffic laws. He was also an outspoken crusader against the widespread practice of“ killing tickets.”
He was simultaneously elected to leadership roles in both the New Jersey and International police chiefs’ association. In 1929 Chief Bell assumed the position of President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the second New Jersey chief to hold that post( following in the footsteps of Newark Police Chief Michael Long, who served 1917 – 1919).
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