February 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 43
Continued from Page 29 At the time of his installation as the international president, Chief Bell was the NJSACOP First Vice President.
His accension to the IACP presidency was treated as an exceptionally important event in his home state. The June 6, 1920, edition of The Jersey Journal featured a prominent article to mark the occasion which highlighted just how the occasion was marked in New Jersey:
“ From grocery clerk to chief executive of the greatest police organization in the world” is the story of the life of Chief of Police Philip T. Bell of Kearny, native of Jersey City, who yesterday was elected to the presidency of the International Association of Chiefs of Police ….
The article noted that a“ banquet at which more than 1,000 covers will be laid, will be held Tuesday night at the home of the Newark Lodge of Elks in honor of the election of Chief Bell.”
Upon his arrival by steamer from Atlanta( the site of the IACP conference where Chief Bell was installed as president) he was met at the pier in Jersey City by a delegation of prominent Kearny officials and residents as well as New York Police Commissioner Grover Whalen. An escort of 200 motorcycle police and an“ automobile parade” then formed and Chief Bell was escorted“ through Jersey City to Lincoln Highway to Jackson Street, Newark, to Fourth Street, Harrison, to Harrison Avenue to Davis Avenue to Midland Avenue, Arlington, to Schuyler Avenue to Belleville Turnpike, to Kearny Avenue, to East Newark, Harrison and Newark ….” Businesses and residences along the route were decorated.
The testimonial banquet was held on the evening of June 11 th. The gala event was broadcast by New York radio station WOR. Among the prominent speakers was New Jersey State Police Superintendent Schwarzkopf, who commented that Chief Bell“ brings honor to the entire state.”
Upon assuming the leadership of the International Association in 1929, Chief Bell took his crusade to unshackle policing from the bonds of politics to a national stage. Less than a month prior to his installation as president of the IACP, a National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement was established by US President Herbert Hoover. The commission, chaired by former Attorney General George W. Wickersham( and informally known as The Wickersham Commission) was the first comprehensive federal study of the U. S. criminal justice system. It was tasked with the study of America ' s justice system, focusing heavily on failures in enforcing Prohibition. Chief Bell’ s expertise was called upon by the commission. During his appearance before the committee, he stated“ A long step toward effective enforcement of law would be taken if we could divorce politics from police work. When a competent chief is in office, he should be left there no matter what the complexion of the city administration.” During his testimony he strongly advocated that the heads of the nation’ s police departments be“ freed from petty politics and‘ small town’ interference.”
As noted by The Trenton Times:
Chief Philip T. Bell … was not exaggerating when he told the National Law Enforcement Commission that political interference with police activities was one of the greatest hindrances to effective enforcement of the law in American municipalities …. The advent of Civil Service did a great deal toward rectification of this deplorable condition. But it is still all too true that pressure and influence, particularly in connection with the more important police positions are being exerted with deplorable consequences for law and order.
Chief Bell would spend his entire career campaigning strenuously to do whatever he could to remove the pernicious influence of politics from professional policing.