On a quiet street near the bay, one of Amityville’s distinguished oldtimers is enjoying the retirement he began some fifteen years ago. Perhaps it is fitting that our town, already into advance preparations for celebrating its Centennial in 1994, is where he’s chosen to stay. X-Police Chief William J. Kay, 79, is another of the good guys who has enriched our bay village heritage with thirty-five years of service.

Not exactly unsung, Chief Kay’s career of both headlined exploits and quiet ongoing commitment has spanned four decades. Senior citizens into nostalgia and scrapbooks will have a field day with the chief when our Centennial activities move into full gear next year. His contributions to Amityville’s history began rather tamely in February of 1940, a few months after Bill Kay joined the Amityville Police Department. At that time, he was one of the ten men on the force, including Chief John Schlosser, who took a tour of duty at the desk and on patrol alongside his men. Officer Kay responded to a frantic call that two dogs had fallen through the bay ice at the foot of Norman Avenue.

With a rope, a ladder and a prayer, Kay edged his way out to where the hapless dogs were trapped. He remembers the Cocker Spaniel and the other bigger dog were struggling for a pay-hold when the ice gave way and he was under water. He remembers a fleeting thought that if he didn’t make it out of the freezing water, what an ignominious way to end his short police service. But he did, with the small dog, while the other make it to shore. He thought he probably would never live it down, but the ASPCA thought enough of his rescue to give him a commendation.

In November of 1941, a fast-spreading kitchen grease fire destroyed one of the Brunswick complex’s old wooden buildings, taking a tragic toll of seven elderly nursing home occupants. Bill Kay was one of many of Amityville’s police and firemen faced with the grim task of finding and identifying the victims. He recalls an old man he had befriended there whose identity could only be confirmed by the remains of a Mickey Mouse watch on his wrist.

By 1958, Bill Kay had risen to the top of his profession and become Chief. In 1960 we opted to keep our own village police force, rather than come under the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Police. Probably of great influence in that decision was the proud reputation of twenty years of efficient, reliable and compassionate service that Amityville cops, of the caliber of Bill Kay, had earned.

Except for the infamous De Feo family tragedy a few years before his retirement, Chief Kay has been lucky to live in a typical small town America where violent crime is a rarity. Though vandalism and mischief still are rites of passage for the young, the drug culture and its attendant crime is today much more of a challenge to Amityville’s police than it was in Bill Kay’s early years. But there were dog packs in our town, and sighting of raccoon bandits, and ubiquitously, the Great South Bay and it L.I. high tides and hurricanes. And there’s an overworked cliche about policemen that most Amityville residents would disclaim, the one about where is a cop when you need one.

Chief Kay really had a telling remark when asked how he felt about the negative press law enforcement officials today seem to be up against. Our older generation still recall when most street cops were looked up to, and police brutality (so-called) paled beside the retribution awaiting you from Mom and Pop if you got into trouble. He said adding that in his younger days, the only hand he ever laid on a suspect was to restrain him, a helping hand in the long run.

This man, who wanted to be a police officer long before he grew up, had the same motivation most of today’s cops do. It’s acknowledged as a "dirty job" but it’s done and done well by men of compassion and character-like Chief William J. Kay.