Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Loves the Challenge

Sleepy Hollow Chief of Police Gregory Camp won’t give up his age.

“(I) was born at Ossining Hospital, so figure that out,” he said. “Not Phelps. Phelps wasn’t there yet.”

Camp has been with the Sleepy Hollow Police Department for 28 years and can still recall standout cases, such as one from his first year when he pulled over a driver  who had nearly 60 active suspensions on his driver’s license.

”I thought that was a lot at the time, but I’ve pulled people over with 100 of  them,” he said. “They’re the ones who shouldn’t be driving. “

The most important thing to Camp, he said, is community involvement. That involves getting out, meeting people and talking with them.

 “Some people don’t want to meet you or talk to you,” he said. “They don’t like you. Usually they’re not the good people in the village, so we have to deal with them also.”

Camp became Chief in February 2011 after having been promoted through the ranks of the Sleepy Hollow Police Department. Prior to joining the department, he was a corrections officer at the Westchester County Jail and the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman, New York.

Camp is married and has two children and two grandchildren. Camp calls Sleepy Hollow a nice village with a great community. He says if he didn’t like Sleepy Hollow, “I wouldn’t have stayed here.”

Camp originally got into law enforcement because it was a good opportunity. He stayed because he enjoyed the work.

“It presented a challenge in itself and I had to do the job,” he said. “I could say I was out in the city to fight crime and do everything else… that’s part of the aspect of it. But there’s so much that you could learn and do in law enforcement. At times you’re a doctor, a lawyer, you’re Indian Chief.”

Police officers have many different things they can do each day, Camp said.

“(You) can ride around, and ride around for days and not do anything. Or you can ride around for days and just give out tickets. Or you can all of a sudden go from zero to sixty receiving a call for a medical emergency for saving a life or delivering a baby or chasing some kids off of a neighbor’s property,” he said. “It’s so many different things you can do in each day. You just don’t know what’s going to come out.”

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