Council remembers former police officer Joe Camilla
NEWTOWN BOROrdH – The Newtown Borough Council offered a moment of silence and dedicated a page in its Minute Book in memory of former Newtown Borough molice Sergeant Joseph J. Camilla at its June 5 agenda meeting.
Camilla died on May 26 at mickering Manor. He was 99.
During the Depression, Camilla, who was born when Woodrow Wilson was president, took up boxing at the age of 16 (he was actually 15, lying about his age because he needed the work).
CDPLOOD IRuJKW KLs fiUsW SURfessional lightweight boxing match in 1931. He went on to fiJKW 54 PRUH ERuWs, PRsWOy Ln mhiladelphia at the Cambria Athletic Club, also known as the “Blood mit” or the “College of Hard hnocks.”
But it was the game of golf that was his favorite sport and one that he carried throughout his life.
He started playing at the tender age of 10 while working as a caddy at the Langhorne Country Club. “On Mondays, all the caddies would play golf for nothing,” he said in an interview with The Advance of Bucks County in Jan. 2012.
Camilla, however, was best known around Newtown as D IRUPHU SROLcH RIficHU wKR walked and drove the beat for three decades, keeping Newtown safe. His last name may also be familiar to oldtimers from the restaurant his parents owned and operated on South State Street for many years.
Camilla joined the Newtown Borough molice Department in 1950 and served as WKH WRwn’s RnOy SROLcH RIficHU for three decades before his retirement in 1980.
Joe and others shared stories of Camilla’s law enforcement career during a banquet held in 2012 honoring him with Newtown’s prestigious Aging Athlete Award.
“The joke was that one of the biggest items in the police budget at the time was replacing the horns on Joe’s car because he had the reputation of honking and waving at everyone,” said one man seated in the audience.
He shared another story about how, on one Mischief Night, he was arrested by Joe.
“Somebody had smashed somebody’s pumpkins on a front porch and Joe wanted to know whether we were involved,” said the man. “We NHSW sDyLnJ nR, nR. HH finDOOy said, ‘You’re going to tell me or I’m never going to wave at you again.”
One of his daughters shared a story about how one day during the Depression Joe was hitchhiking on old Route 1.
“A car stopped and there were guys sitting in there with black suits, white ties, hats and cigarettes. ‘det in,’ they said. Dad got in and saw macKLnH Juns Rn WKH flRRU.”
Another daughter told about another incident in which a group of kids let the air out of the cars at the Stockburger parking lot.
“He found out who it was, but instead of punishing them by sending them to juvenile, he made them blow every tire up by hand. They learned a lesson,” she said.
There was another incident, said Jack Erickson, where Camilla responded to a call DW LDYHnGHU HDOO. A fiJKW wDs taking place and one of the men involved had already killed another man.
“Joe confronted the man who was holding a shot gun and told him to put it down,” said Erickson. “And he did.”
The only time Camilla ever pulled his gun was during a hunt for a man on the deorge School property.
“This man was working in the kitchen there. He got into an argument, pulled out his gun and started shooting. He didn’t hit anyone,” said Camilla. “The Middletown Township molice called me and asked for help. So I went down and helped look for him.”
TKH RIficHUs cDPH uS HPSWy, despite an exhaustive search of the grounds. The man had taken refuge underneath of one of the buildings, which Joe had walked past.
“In the morning, he turned himself in down in Middletown,” said Camilla. “He told them, ‘You know that cop they call Joe Newtown? If he saw where I was, I had six bullets waiting for him.”
Mayor Dennis O’Brien related his own “Joe” story.
“WKHn , fiUsW PRYHG WR Newtown, I moved into Wes Robinson’s grandmother’s house. I went up on the third flRRU DnG WKHUH wHUH DOO WKHsH holes in the wall. I asked what happened here? Something got in there - a squirrel, a raccoon or something. She called Joe and said he had to get this WKLnJ RuW RI WKH WKLUG flRRU. Well, he eventually did - after about six shots. I was patching plaster for a long time,” said O’Brien.