Police Department

Excellence in Protection

The Vernon Police Department consists of 59 sworn and 25 civilian men and women dedicated to providing outstanding law enforcement services. The Department is led by Chief Steve Towles. His administrative staff consists of Captain James Rodino, and the Service's Commander Captain Daniel Calleros.

The Patrol Division has 33 officers assigned to two 12-hour shifts. The department is proud of its average response time of less than four minutes for emergency calls for service. There is one lieutenant and three sergeants who are active on each shift. Each patrol car has state of the art equipment. Mobile computer terminals using advanced wireless technology allow officers to communicate with the station, other officers, and complete reports in the field. The reports can be transmitted to the station supervisor for review and processing. Additionally, the mobile computer terminals can query State and national criminal databases. Patrol Officers also use night vision binoculars as well as handheld and vehicle mounted Thermal Imaging Devices. Crime scenes are captured on digital cameras and video recorders.

The department actively uses the Community Oriented Policing model to provide services to the businesses and the public. Specialized details such as the bicycle units are an important element of the Community Oriented Policing. Officers are trained to handle offenses unique to a commercial/industrial based community.

Vernon Service Officers assigned to the Patrol Division handle parking enforcement, jail and booking functions at the department's 19 bed Type I jail facility.

The department's Industrial Relations unit of the Professional Standards Division serves as a liaison between the businesses and the police department. The department commits one lieutenant, one sergeant, and one detective to the Professional Standards Division. These supervisors are experts in the areas of crime prevention and labor disputes.

The Investigative Division consists of a full service Detective Bureau with one lieutenant, a sergeant and four detectives. The detectives conduct all follow up investigations. The Vernon Police Department handles all its own cases and does not surrender major cases to the county. The department has four investigators and a supervisor assigned to regional multi-agency taskforces; TRAP (auto theft), LA IMPACT (narcotics), Southwest Borders (narcotics) and CTIP (cargo theft). The commitment of five in-house investigators as well as the four taskforce investigators demonstrates the City's commitment to provide in depth law enforcement to the businesses and public.

The recently upgraded Communication Center is a model for other agencies. The Computer Aided Dispatch system is fully integrated with the mobile computer, the records management and the E911 systems. In addition to answering all E911 emergency calls for service, the communication center dispatches Vernon Fire Department units.

A Records Manager and Lead Records Technician work together with three clerks to process reports and fulfill requests from the public. The Records and Patrol Division use software to electronically write, process and distribute reports, thereby increasing the efficiency and providing a greater level of service.

The Department's commitment to the business community is evident by its level of response, training, use of cutting edge technology and personnel resources devoted to addressing the unique requirements of an "exclusively industrial" city.

The City of Vernon is a very unique city. It is a charter city with a commitment to business that is evident in its motto, "Exclusively Industrial". The city is in fact almost pure industry. While the residential population is very small, there are 1,200 businesses creating a workforce population that swells to 44,000. Such large numbers of people working in factories, warehouses and refineries, often dealing with inherently dangerous equipment, creates some very demanding challenges on rescue personnel.

The Vernon Fire Department has enjoyed tremendous support by city officials and the business community and is allocated the resources required to maintain a highly effective and efficient emergency response system. Because of the highly industrialized nature of Vernon, and the unusual hazards inherent in that environment, a major focus of operations is towards the specialized training of fire department emergency responders. In addition to the normal jobs and tasks of firefighting and emergency medical response, many of the Vernon Firefighters receive the following specialized training:

• Hazardous Materials - Technician & Specialist
• Confined Space Rescue
• Rescue Systems I and II
• Trench Rescue
• Emergency Building Shoring
• Fire Prevention and Investigation
• Emergency Response To Terrorism

The commitment to public service combined with the need to keep pace with the ever accelerating pace of technology has also led to such specialty programs as Vernon Fire's Urban Search and Rescue and Hazardous Materials Teams. Furthermore, the Fire Prevention Program has had such great success that structure fires are at an all time low. Such service has placed the Vernon Fire Department into the top 35 highest rated departments in the United States.