Colarulo is Ready to Take on Radnor

The mementos of his past won’t adorn his new spacious office, save for the photo collage of Philadelphia police officers who recently fell in the line of duty that sits behind his desk. That, and an old, weathered button that Bill Colarulo used to carry everywhere with him—a reminder of a terrible night when a young cop, barely six months out of the academy, suddenly aged a few years and became battle-hardened.

Colarulo had just turned 23, working the midnight-to-eight shift in Philadelphia’s Ninth District on December 9, 1981, when the call came over at 3:12 a.m. to “send me a wagon” … followed by dead air. He can remember then responding to the call in the Sixth District that an officer was shot.

It was all surreal as Colarulo helped the shot officer into the emergency room of Jefferson Hospital. A nurse ripped off the patrolman’s bloody jacket and threw it to Colarulo, who will always carry the indelible image of badge No. 4699 and the name on the patrol jacket “Faulkner.”

It’s something that will never leave new Radnor Police Chief Bill Colarulo. He was there the night Daniel Faulkner died in the emergency room and always carried a button of the fallen officer with him.

Colarulo, 52, brings more than 30 years of police experience with him to Radnor (Full disclosure: the writer's brother is a detective with Radnor's force). A 1976 Bishop Neumann graduate who received his undergrad degree from Temple in 1980 and graduate degree in criminal justice in 2003 from St. Joseph’s, Colarulo also brings a whole different perspective to police work.

For him, it's all about participation from his officers, the quality of life he intends to provide the residents of Radnor, and building a model of policing based on a participatory style with the community and his officers, he said.

It all goes back to the images and lessons he learned on the night Faulkner was shot.

“That really changed my outlook on police work,” Colarulo recalled. “That’s why I try to relate to the younger officers that it’s not all glamour and not all fun. The reason why I remember that night is if you would have told me 30 years later that it would have been one of the defining points of my career, I wouldn’t believe it.

“The victim was forgotten, and Faulkner’s murderer became a cause célèbre," he continued. "I was also at the hospital when Mumia Abu-Jamal was brought in, and I can still remember him wearing black army boots, a big blood stain on his yellow shirt, camouflage pants, and an empty black shoulder holster. When my partner handcuffed him to the gurney, I remember him saying ‘I’m glad I shot the MF.’ That night I went through a whole series of emotions. Later that night, a senior officer named Joe Haggerty asked me if I called my house. I asked why. He told me anytime an officer goes down, you make sure you call your home so your family knows you’re okay. It gives you a whole different perspective on police work.”

Ten years later, Colarulo’s partner that night, Tom Bray, was also killed in the line of duty.

“Those things stay with you and make you realize every patrol is important, and you always have to be aware, that once you’re on the street, you’re family,” Colarulo said. “You always have to watch your back, no matter what area you’re policing.”

Colarulo said he was always infatuated with police work. He grew up in South Philly and viewed the police in his neighborhood as blue knights, able to react and handle any situation at any time. They were like big brothers you could call that always had an answer. It's what initially drew him into becoming a police officer.

His childhood summers were filled with Phillies' games, open fire hydrants and halfball games, and as he reached his teen years, hanging out with friends on the local corner. Sometimes--Colarulo laughs about it today--a police officer would scatter his group for making a little too much noise. Early in his law enforcement career, Colarulo said he ran into one of those officers that used to chase off his teenaged band of friends and they shared a laugh about the memory.

Colarulo held various positions and was a fast riser in the Philadelphia Police Department. He worked the 25th Police District, nicknamed “The Badlands,” which also impacted his career. It’s an area where he was once rear-ended by a 19-year-old on Cambria Street. Drug dealers were so brazen and the drug trafficking so blatant it didn’t matter who was watching. Or, it seems, who they ran into.

“The kid that ran into me literally fell out of the car he was so high and right next to him were 20 vials of crack sitting in the passenger’s seat out there in plain sight, and I’m thinking, ‘There’s no judge or jury that would ever believe this,’ I wouldn’t believe it if someone told me that story,” Colarulo said.

In response to that Colarulo made a drastic move. He taped off the street and in time curtailed the drug trade from the area, he said. The former Philadelphia Chief Inspector was later named the George Fencl Award by the Philadelphia Daily News in 1998 for “for outstanding community service and respect for the rule of law.”

Though 1998 in the 25th District wasn’t exactly a completely smooth for Colarulo, who faced a racial lawsuit filed by three former Philly cops, Raymond Carnation, and brothers William and Michael McKenna, who claimed they were retaliated against after they complained about alleged racially discriminatory treatment of black officers in the 25th District, where Colarulo was the district captain.

According to court documents, Colarulo supposedly told Carnation his life would be “a living hell” if he filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint about a white sergeant who allegedly mistreated black officers. In 2008, a federal jury awarded the three former cops $10 million. A year later, a federal judge reduced that to $900,000.

Colarulo addressed the matter.

“I spent 30 years with the police department and I have an unblemished record and every performance evaluation is exemplary with no disciplinary record,” he said. “My reputation speaks for itself. The incident in the 25th district involving three employees claiming a sergeant was using racial slurs and when they tried to report to it a lieutenant and a captain, they were threatened with retaliation is totally not true. I don’t care what the verdict said, even to this day.

"I’m willing to take a polygraph regarding all the actions I’ve taken," he continued. "I was never defended during that case, and if I could go back, I would have done everything exactly the same way as I did then. Isn’t it funny though that this happened the same year and in the same district that I won the George Fencl for outstanding community service, compassion and respect for the rule of law?”

Colarulo seems to have turned the page on the issue. He recently moved to the Radnor area, and as part of his new position he said he’s going to institute an Officer of the Month program, an awards program for officers--selected by their peers--who provide exemplary service. He also wants to issue insignias on their uniforms for awards they won, while acknowledging safe driving records, extended periods of time without using sick days and recognizing shooting proficiency.

If you wonder how someone with a long Philadelphia track record can adjust to Radnor, it’s not as night and day as you might think. Colarulo maintains it’s a simple premise he plans on carrying with him: quality of life issues. Because of the volume of crime Colarulo had to deal with in Philadelphia, he’s seen how a department can become desensitized and overwhelmed. That won’t happen in Radnor.

“I want my officers, and the community to be able to approach me about anything,” Colarulo said. “I want to be more proactive in how we deal with matters, and quality of life issues, whether it’s crowd noise or disorderly conduct, or more serious crimes. We have to take it as a personal affront to us that someone’s the victim of a crime in Radnor, or anywhere. That’s the way it should be here.”