NORTHFIELD — Mark VonColln was sworn in as the new police chef at the city’s reorganization meeting on Jan. 3.
VonColln was elected after a long application process graded through five different steps. All who wanted to apply for the position could do so and different points were added at each step to help allow the best to shine through.
Points were given for seniority, education level and an evaluation of the work done as an officer.
Along with the point system there was also an oral interview and a written exam administered by the New Jersey State Chief of Police.
After all of that, there was still more. Next up came an oral interview with the mayor, council president and the business administrator. Then it came down to who scored the highest after all the points, interviews and tests were scored.
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After narrowing the poll down to three applicants with the highest scores, the mayor made his recommendation to city council which then voted on who was the right one for the job and VonColln came out on top.
VonColln, who was acting lieutenant as a patrol division commander, has been a member of the local police department for 24 years.
VonCollns first career choice was to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a marine. Plans changed when his dad wanted him to go to college and VonColln said that the switch lead him to consider a career as a police officer instead.
After college, VonColln became a Class II officer in Wildwood. Growing up in West Cape May and attending Lower Cape May Regional High School, he was set to grow within the Wildwood police department ranks and earn a full-time position there.
However, a former Northfield police officer and long-time friend changed his views. Martin Peary called VonColln while he was in the process of becoming full-time in Wildwood and swayed him to call Northfield home.
“He called me and told me what a close knit community Northfield was, how he lived here and just ultimately told me to come here and give the police department a shot. Now, here I am all these years later,” VonColln said.
As the new head of the police department, VonColln has many goals he hopes to achieve. One goal is to create a better relationship and partnership between the residents of the city and all police officers. He wants to help establish trust between the two and always keep his team community oriented.
“I want to change the stigma attached to police officers,” VonColln said. “We have an excellent group here and I plan to keep it that way through the training and to gain more public trust.”
While recruiting and maintaining police officers today is getting harder, VonColln is eager to keep the police department strong and with all his years of experience, no one is more ready to handle the helm than he is.
