Dedicated Police Chief Works for Township

It’s likely that most people don’t know their community police chief very well, just as many residents of Northampton Township may not even know their police chief’s name.

And, while people may recognize that Northampton Township is a desirable, safe place to live, it is just as likely they don’t know that experience, training, philosophy, intelligence and caring are major underpinnings of that reason.

Pilla came to the township in 1976 as a uniformed police officer.

During his off-hours, he earned his associate’s degree from Bucks County Community College and his bachelor of science degree in Human Services with a focus in Administration of Justice from Thomas Edison State College, a distance learning institution.

Not satisfied with the extend of his education, he continued at Thomas Edison, earning a master of arts degree in Applied Professional Studies, and he said he thinks he might like to own a doctorate one day.

He could retire, now, to the central Florida home he and his wife purchased for “snow-birding one day," but Pilla feels there is so much more he wants to accomplish in the next few years.

He joined the Army when he was only 19 years old, against his parent’s wishes. Pilla then served two tours in South Vietnam. From 1967 to 1970, he was with the Army Security Agency maintaining a top-secret codeword clearance. 

“It was an eye-opener,” he said. “Very enlightening. I grew up quickly.” 

That is perhaps one reason he has strong compassion for men and women in the armed forces. 

He admits to enjoying all sports, especially football, trying to watch several games each weekend. Particularly, he’s an Eagles and Penn State fan, but he and his wife also enjoy attending theatre and laughing at the jokes of a good comedian.

“Often in my off time," he said, "my wife and I enjoy driving throughout our region, sometimes with a specific destination, other times, to see where the next road goes.”

He continued by listing some of their favorite desinations.

“We like to visit New Jersey shore towns, various museums, historic sites and great architectural buildings," Pilla said. “Because I enjoy history, in general, I tend to enjoy visiting places such as West Point and Gettysburg."

During the holiday season, the Pillas make their annual drive to visit the beautifully decorated Delaware’s Longwood Gardens.

Even as they take vacation time, Pilla said he never stops thinking of ways to help the community to be even better.

“My goal is to prevent crimes, not to stop them,” he said. "Our guys keep coming up with ideas to make our team even better."

He said they have 43 sworn officers and a total of 65 people who work toward the same goals – making the township better.

Just a few of the many programs begun under his leadership are functioning under the watchful eye of Officer Steve Kingsdorf, such as ARC, (Accident Reduction Campaign); CIT, (Crisis Intervention Team with officers trained to deal with emotional and physical issues); FINDS program (Family Information Network Data Sharing), a which sends out alerts for people who have wandered off with Alzheimer’s or dementia; and an alert system to notify people of missing persons and or of potential criminals entering our township. 

His officers and staff find Pilla very “approachable.” They like his style of leadership.

“It’s a great place to work,” said Karen Cessarone, his secretary of 17 years.  “He’s progressive, fantastic, and listens to everyone’s ideas."