There was a time in the Town of Vernon when the town marshal was not treated like a decorative badge on a shelf.
When Everett Viles held the position, the marshal’s office still carried the weight of an old town lawman. Vernon’s own charter language still describes the marshal as someone expected to suppress disturbances, apprehend disorderly persons, bring offenders before the mayor, execute process, and even act in roles tied to streets and delinquent taxes. That is not written like a parade-title. That is written like a public-duty job.
And Vernon is not just any town on this point. Vernon still advertises itself as Indiana’s only town with an elected mayor and an elected town marshal. The town website currently lists Brad Bender as mayor and Britt Burgmeier as marshal.
So the position did mean something. The old charter still says it means something. The title still exists. The town still keeps it on the books.
But then came the modern Vernon twist.
According to the council discussion/transcript, the current marshal position was described as “just a figure head position anyway.” In that same discussion, the council stated that Britt has full police powers “without any training or certification whatsoever.”
Well, bless the badge and pass the liability waiver.
Because here is the problem: Indiana does not treat law enforcement training like optional garnish. State training rules include a town marshal basic training program, commonly called Tier II, consisting of not less than 320 hours in residence at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. Indiana law also lays out limits around police powers before basic training is completed, including arrest, search, seizure, and carrying a firearm unless pre-basic requirements are met.
So Vernon has a position with historic law-enforcement duties, a town website still presenting the marshal as an official elected office, and a council discussion describing the current office as ceremonial while also acknowledging no training or certification.
That is not a cute little quirk. That is a public-policy question wearing a badge.
This is not about whether Britt Burgmeier has other public safety experience. He is listed as Jennings County 911 Communications Center Director, and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security lists him as Jennings County LEPC Chair. That may speak to emergency services experience, dispatch leadership, and administrative responsibility.
But those are not the same thing as being trained and certified to perform the actual law enforcement duties attached to the marshal title.
So Vernon residents deserve a straight answer:
Are you comfortable spending tax money on a compensated marshal position that the council itself describes as ceremonial?
Are you comfortable with a person holding a title that historically carried real law enforcement duties, while also being described as having no law enforcement training or certification?
And if an emergency happened tomorrow, and Vernon suddenly needed its marshal to act as more than a figurehead, what exactly would happen?
Because either the position matters, or it does not.
If it matters, train the marshal.
If it does not matter, stop dressing ceremony up like public safety and asking taxpayers to fund the costume.
Vernon does not get to brag about having Indiana’s only elected town marshal while shrugging and calling it a figurehead the moment people ask whether the marshal can actually marshal.
So here is the question for Vernon residents:
Are you really okay with this arrangement?
Update: Britt resigned last summer due to moving out of Vernon. The position seems to be vacant currently. Now would be a good time to rework the title into a ceremonial role if that what it’s going to be, before someone without the professional restraint of Britt gets the role and becomes a liability risk.
