Police Lieutenant Talks About Journey Back Home

by Jonathan Weaver

After assignments at nine Pennsylvania State Police barracks during his career, Lieutenant Chris Yanoff might be back at home to stay.

Yanoff – named the Kittanning barracks’ station commander August 13 – has been as far from Armstrong County as Lancaster and Tunkhannock during his 28 years of service, but hopes to close out his career where he grew up.

“Hopefully I’ll finish my career. I’m not going to leave until I’m 60 – I said from Day One there’s nothing else I want to do,” Yanoff said. “I’ve enjoyed it – it has its ups and downs like any other job, but it’s been a rewarding career.

“If I could finish my career here, I’d be happy.”

Originally from Ford City, the Lenape Tech graduate for Drafting and Design in 1977, (Lenape Tech did not offer Law Enforcement Information Technology at that time) Yanoff was a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania when he made the choice that would change his future.

“I was going into my senior year of college when I got accepted into the State Police. I was 28 years old and the cutoff 28 years ago was your 30th birthday,” Lieutenant Yanoff said. “So, I was going into my senior year of college and I had to make a decision – do I stay in college my senior year and get that degree or do I go to the State Police now, which is why I was going to college?

Against his professors’ advice, Yanoff did drop out of college and joined the State Police Academy. He returned to the area as a State Police Trooper on patrol and in criminal forensics (formerly referred to as R&I – Records and Identifications) in 1993.

Since he graduated from the academy, Yanoff – 57 - has been promoted from trooper to corporal to sergeant and lieutenant while serving in more than a half-dozen Pennsylvania locales: Tunkhannock (west of Scranton), Somerset, Indiana, Kiski Valley, Mercer, Beaver, Lancaster and New Castle, as well as Troop D Headquarters in Butler.

Yanoff recalled the “bubble gum machine” police car that sparked his interest at a young age.

“You saw the State Police come and we’re like ‘Yea, you don’t mess with a trooper.’ I just always wanted to be one – I liked the way they looked in uniform, and when I started learning about what they did, that they weren’t just highway patrol.

“A trooper does it all – traffic enforcement, criminal law, gets sent to criminal incidents, is the first one on scene sometimes and sometimes he’s the last one and has to pick up the pieces. That intrigued me – your eight hours goes fast when you’re involved in something. And if you’re not involved with something, it’s your own fault.”

But, first Yanoff wanted to serve in the Armed Forces – like his father, uncles and father-in-law did.

“I was one of them young guys that watched Vietnam unfold on TV. I never idolized athletes – I idolized soldiers,” Yanoff said. “I played football my senior year, I wrestled, ran cross country, but I grew up watching Vietnam unfold on TV and just always wanted to be a soldier or marine.”

Yanoff excelled to the rank of sergeant during four years of active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps before staying in the Reserves and National Guard before his retirement as Sergeant First Class in 2002.

His final assignment was at the Ford City Armory.

His military background established a “hands on” attitude that enables Yanoff to work with the 32 troopers, new Sergeant Douglas Smith, five patrol corporals and a criminal investigations corporal under his command.

“My philosophy is they don’t work for me – I work for them. I have to make sure they have what they need to do their job, do it safely and get home at the end of the night.”

The local philosophy even before Lieutenant Yanoff assumed command has kept the police at the Kittanning barracks “firm, but fair.”

“There’s no reason to make any changes. Kittanning station, whether it was the old building or the new building, has been fortunate to have a core group of troopers who are pretty much self sufficient. They’re hard workers, believe in what they’re doing and you don’t have to ask them to go do it.”
Yanoff’s leadership and personality made his appointment easy for Troop D Captain Steve Ignatz – Yanoff’s former corporal, sergeant and friend.

“He’s one of the senior lieutenants in the troop, he’s an outstanding leader. When the opening came up at the Kittanning station, (Yanoff) requested to be stationed there and was a good fit,” Captain Ignatz said. “He’s a local guy who does a great job – the public is going to like him. If they have a problem or concern, he’s someone the public can call and he’ll take care of what their problems are.”

During his last two years and four months on the job, Lieutenant Yanoff looks forward to continuing “excellent” public safety in Armstrong County.

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