Back in the Swing

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Scholarship Golf outing is returning to Blue Bell Country Club on Sept.2. 

This premier fundraising event was started by Sheriff Sean Kilkenny in 2017 to assist Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies and their families in reaching their educational goals through degree programs at Montgomery County Community College, where he serves as a trustee. 

Now in its fifth year, the outing has raised close to $100,000 in charitable contributions toward the endowment established by the Montgomery Community College Foundation, which supports scholarships, grants, emergency funds, enrichment programs, and activities at the College.

Current MCSO employees, previous employees with over 10 years of service, and immediate family members are eligible to apply and four scholarships have been awarded thus far. 

This year's event will feature our traditional shotgun start, lunch, and a dinner banquet with a raffle and remarks by Sheriff Kilkenny, MCCC President Victoria Bastecki-Perez and keynote speaker Judge Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio. 

Special thanks to our sponsors, volunteers and the great folks at MCCC and Blue Bell Country Club for making it all happen.

Midsummer Night's Team

National Night Out has grown into one of the most popular events in the region. So much so, that dozens of townships and municipalities host their own versions of the service and community celebration throughout the month of August. 

Although the MCSO could not attend every NNO in Montgomery County, we had a great time meeting and greeting the public at events in Abington, Marlborough and Upper Gwynedd. We also participated in State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti's children's fair at Elmwood Park Zoo.  

Our Bomb Squad recently teamed up with the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety's Urban Search and Rescue Team for a joint training session. 

Bomb techs learned and reviewed rope skills that will help them reach explosive devices and suspicious objects in difficult-to-access locations. 

These advanced skills will be put to the text next month during extensive training with other agencies and emergency response units at the Chester County Public Safety Training Campus in Coatesville, PA.  

Employee Spotlight

Warrants Clerk Kimberlyn Brown has seen a lot in her 22 years, but the biggest change: "Just the people," she says. " They just keep getting younger and younger."

Brown, who hails from Ardmore where she still resides, attended Lower Merion schools before landing a job at a local dry cleaner, where she stayed on for 15 years prior to coming on board with the MCSO.

"Someone asked my mom, one day, they said (the MCSO) needed people and she asked me so I came in for an interview." 

"They said, 'you got the job,' and I've been here ever since."

Although she came to the position with no prior experience, Brown credits her former supervisor, Sgt. Patricia Smith, with helping to shorten the learning curve.

"She helped me out al lot," Brown recalls. "I was entering warrants (and) 'waiting on customers.' Back then we used to walk them up to the DA's office. It was a lot."

"It's the same thing we do now, but now I use the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) to enter warrants into the system...We don't walk people up (to the DA's) anymore either, because it shouldn't be civilians doing it. Deputies walk them to the courtroom now."

Every day, Brown handles bundles of warrants that need to be modified and entered into the NCIC database. She adds information to the files of criminal subjects already in the system such as tattoos, scars, aliases and other information that can help law enforcement identify them. 

"We call it packing the record," she says. "By pack the record we mean that we pack the information into that file so if they get stopped by the police and they say they're not the subject, they can easily identify them by looking at what's in their file."

"When you get a hit that means that the person was stopped by the police and when that happens they usually check to see if you have a bench warrant and they run you through NCIC. When it comes up on our end, we determine whether we want the subject or not based on the crime, which most of the time, we do. 

"I respond back to them saying the warrant is active and we do want them, so they take the subject in custody and we make arrangements to pick them up."

Brown also sends out letters to inform subjects that they have an outstanding bench warrant. She says "sometimes they respond and sometimes they don't. Sometimes they walk in and turn themselves in," about 1 in 5, she estimates.

Although the process is the same, each case is different, and that's the aspect of the job Brown says she likes most.

"Everyday is something interesting ...today I received a hit and it was from 2015... out of York County. I call those oldies but goodies because it's 2022 now and they thought they were getting away. I like the older ones."

Outside of work, Brown enjoys spending time with her daughter, grandson and younger cousin she calls her granddaughter, attending church, and rustling up Sunday dinners during the summer.

"I'm mostly really laid back." she said. 

As she nears retirement, Brown speculates she'll work at least one more year.

"I like my supervisors, (Sgt. Mark) Huzzard and (Lt. Joanne) Lawlor." she said. "We've been together for a long time. All in all, (the job) is nice. It makes me want to get up in the morning and come to work."