Yarns to retire as Clarks Summit police chief; Yetkowskas to become chief

After decades in law enforcement, Chris Yarns considers the Clarks Summit Police Department to be his second home.

On Tuesday, he leaves that home when he retires as the police chief after nearly 36 years working for the department. Patrolman Kevin Yetkowskas will be sworn in as the new chief on Wednesday.

Yarns, 63, has worked in law enforcement since 1981, including serving as a law enforcement specialist in the Air Force, a marshal at the federal courthouse in downtown Scranton, in the Wyoming County sheriff’s office and as an officer in Tunkhannock and Falls Twp.

He joined the Clarks Summit department as an officer in November 1990 and became chief in April 2014.

During his tenure as chief, Yarns initiated multiple upgrades of the department’s equipment and technology, including body and dashboard cameras, new computers and new patrol vehicles. He also was able to update the department’s policy manual.

“I would like to say I’m proud of all that stuff,” Yarns said. “I think I left the place better than it was when I came.”

The department, which has six full-time officers, 11 part-time officers and two civilian employees, has a good working relationship with neighboring police departments, notably the South Abington Twp. Police Department, which Yarns said is good for all officers.

“I can say that the guys here, they can rely on each other. Both departments can call on each other and it’s a good relationship,” he said.

Yarns also has developed a good working relationship with members of the borough council, who have supported many of his initiatives over the years. He also appreciates that the officers get along with each other.

Fellow officers and borough employees are the people Yarns said he will miss most when he retires.

“They’re all good people,” he said.

Over the years, technology and the type of incidents the department responds to have changed, with the police receiving nearly 4,000 calls a year. Yarns said traffic is the biggest issue, because of the borough’s central location in the Abingtons and multiple highways and state roads passing through it.

“If you’re a resident of the Abingtons, you will be driving through Clarks Summit and there’s no way around it,” he said.

Policing has also changed, Yarns said, with more accountability for officers, protection-from-abuse orders getting stronger, and officer pay and benefits, training and equipment getting better. However, staffing has become challenging, he said, as it has become harder to hire officers. Yarns said the hours, which include nights, holidays and weekends, aren’t attractive to many people.

Yarns said he has received several postretirement job offers, some of which are in law enforcement, which he is still considering, but he wants to take time to relax. Yarns — who grew up in Little Meadows, Susquehanna County, but has lived in the Abingtons since 1984 — and his wife, Amy, have five grown children.

Yetkowskas said Yarns has been a constant in the department and he has learned a lot from him over the years. But the new chief is looking forward to taking the department in a direction he wants it to go and communicating with officials and the general public more.

Yetkowskas, 35, began as a part-time officer with the department in 2012, after his graduation in 2011 from the Lackawanna College Police Academy. He became a full-time patrol officer in 2015.

A lifelong borough resident and 2009 Abington Heights High School graduate, he is no stranger to area emergency services, having been a member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company since 2005. Yetkowskas has also worked as an emergency medical technician with Community Life Support Ambulance and as a dispatcher for the Lackawanna County 911 Center. Yetkowskas and his wife, Sinea, have two children.

Under a contract approved by the borough council earlier this month, Yetkowskas will earn $84,750 this year as chief, which will increase to $88,140 next year. Yarns’ current salary is $78,853.

When he takes over, Yetkowskas said he is interested in looking at new technology, applying for grants for the department and, in the future, upgrading the current police headquarters.

Yarns is happy the council selected one of his patrol officers to be chief, particularly because of his experience working in different parts of emergency services. Yetkowskas said having grown up in Clarks Summit, he understands the people and the borough from the inside out.

“We have a lot of good people in this town that are sometimes having a bad day that we deal with,” he said.