Vernon swears in 4th police chief in township history

VERNON — The Vernon Township Police Department's fourth chief in its 38-year history was officially sworn into office at the Nov. 14 Township Council meeting.

The council had approved Mayor Victor Marotta's appointment of Lt. Arthur Randy Mills to succeed retiring chief Roy Wherry on Sept. 9. Wherry has been chief since 2000 and retired on Oct. 31.

"It was not an easy decision," Marotta said. "It was a tough decision because every member of this council and your mayor understand that this may be the most important decision we make in our tenure serving you. I can tell you that I am confident that we made a good decision."

Mills came to the Township Police Department in 1990 as a patrolman and served many years as a school resource officer.

He became a detective in 1999 and was promoted to sergeant in 2002, serving in both the patrol and administrative divisions. He was promoted to lieutenant, where he served as the department's second-in-command under Wherry and headed all administrative duties. He also served 19 years as director of the township Police Athletic League and now sits on its board of directors. He is a former member of the McAfee Fire Department and the Vernon Township Ambulance Squad.

Before swearing Mills into his new position, Wherry was honored by both the Vernon Township Historical Society and the township.

Jessica Paladini, president of the Vernon historical society, presented Wherry with a plaque commemorating his years of service to the township. He also was presented with a plaque by Marotta.

"Over the past 2 1/2 years as I have watched Roy Wherry, I have watched him take our police department to the next level and prepare it to become one of the premier police departments in New Jersey," Marotta said. "I'm going to miss him."

Council president Patrick Rizzuto said the township was better off having had Wherry as its police chief.

Wherry thanked members of the police department both past and present.

"When the mayor talks about accomplishments of the police department, it hasn't been me," Wherry said. "It's been all these police officers that you see here and everybody pulling together. I feel like I'm leaving Chief Mills with the absolute very best police department and I am 100 percent confident that he's going to make it better."

There was, however, one more police promotion to be made on Nov. 17 as Marotta said Wherry's retirement and Mills' promotion caused a "rare opportunity for men and women who have served for long amounts of time" in the police department.

Therefore, he nominated Detective Sergeant Brian Jernick to be promoted to fill the department's second lieutenant position.

"Anyone who knows him knows he will be an outstanding lieutenant," Marotta said.

Jernick came to Vernon in 1995 after five years serving in the Nutley Police Department. He also worked 3 1/2 years as an undercover narcotics agent for the Sussex County Narcotics Task Force and after returning to patrol in Vernon, was assigned to detective bureau in 2000. He has headed the detective bureau for last three years.

His appointment was unanimously approved.

"When people move up or are moving out and you can call on your own people to take up the reins of responsibility and know there's not going to be a misstep and know the people taking the reins will do the job you want them to do says we have a strong, deep bench," Rizzuto said.

Marotta also said he is seeking two more officers for the department and plans to put two more in the townships 2015 budget.