Vernon Leisure Club meets the Chief

The Vernon Leisure Club met the township’s new Police Chief Daniel B. Young at a meet and greet, informational question and answer period during the club’s monthly meeting on Wednesday June 19.
Young took over the position this past February from former Chief Randy Mills. Young was joined briefly by Captain Keith Kimkowski.
“I’ve lived in Vernon for 43 years and four generations of my family have called Vernon home,” said Young.
The chief joked with the group about working hard as a youngster every summer on his grandmother’s Christmas tree farm, which the family still operates in Vernon. Young had some tips for the seniors especially about being savvy when it pertains to scam phone calls.
“Never fall for granddaughter-grandson calls asking for money. Tell them to call their parents then hang up,” Young advised.
The chief also advised that most fraudulent calls originate overseas and are extremely difficult to track.
Young also discussed the heroin and opiate epidemic in Vernon, stating that Vernon is not any more affected than other local towns.
“Vernon participates in the CLEAR program which partners with the Center for Prevention which deals with community law enforcement and recovery,” stated Young.
According to Young, a new prevention, educational program called LEAD will be activated in Grade 5 this coming fall. LEAD will take the place of the DARE program. He mentioned his and the department’s proactive community involvement, citing the recent Ice Cream with a Cop and the Adopt a Cop programs, Police Station tours for school kids and the upcoming August PAL Vernon Night Out.
The session ended with Young fielding questions from the seniors that ranged from everything from local burglaries to tasers.