Yaniero Has Been a Champion in the Fight Against Child Abuse

This is part of an ongoing series featuring community members and organizations that partner with One Place and its Child Advocacy Center to fight child abuse. This entry features Mike Yaniero, Jacksonville’s director of public safety and the current chair of the One Place board of directors.

Mike Yaniero went straight to the front lines of the fight against child abuse in Onslow County when he arrived to be Jacksonville’s police chief in 2004, joining the budding effort to establish a Child Advocacy Center in the community.

While aligning himself personally and professionally to other causes, such as promoting community policing and mounting a campaign against abuse of opioids and other drugs, he has been a stalwart in the war against emotional, physical and sexual offenses against children.

His commitment to protecting children in the community goes far beyond his long hours on the job. He also serves as the volunteer chair of the One Place board of directors after extensive involvement in the agency’s development of a Child Advocacy Center. His visionary leadership has been instrumental as One Place has expanded on its original mission as Onslow County Partnership for Children.

One Place CEO Dawn Rochelle said she first worked with Yaniero on the Community Child Protection Team, where the new Jacksonville police chief became a welcomed source of support for the concept of a Child Advocacy Center that Rochelle and others were trying to get off the ground in Onslow County. “Chief was the only person who had worked in a Child Advocacy Center,” she said. “He remembered from his days in Bristol what it was like to work in a community without one and then, when it was set up, what a difference the coordinated services meant.”

The Child Advocacy Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to situations involving child abuse. Professionals from One Place, local law enforcement, social services, medical providers and others come together to discuss abuse cases involving children and provide feedback. The CAC conducts forensic interviews and medical examinations of child victims in support of investigations for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Prior to coming to Jacksonville, Yaniero worked in Tennessee with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department before being named deputy chief of police with the Bristol (Tenn.) Police Department. He participated in the establishment of a CAC in Bristol and brought that experience with him to Jacksonville.

“I have had the opportunity to work with a CAC and without a CAC and to see the difference in the two,” Yaniero said. “The model is starting the healing process from the first time a child comes to the police department. The process has been improved because it has always been centered on the child.”

The police chief said the biggest steps toward improvement are law enforcement’s acceptance of the multidisciplinary process and an overall acknowledgment that the primary objective must be repairing damage suffered by the victim. “Although prosecution is very important, the process is focused on how we make that child well again and how we replace what was taken from them,” he said.

Through their connections in child protection and Rotary, Rochelle and Yaniero became a formidable partnership in advocating for a CAC under the umbrella of the Onslow County Partnership for Children and later One Place. “From the very beginning, Chief has been super clear that if children have what they need, especially in early childhood, it reduces the need for law enforcement,” she said.

“We know that when children are provided for and when families have the resources that they need, that there is less crime and there are a lot of less other social problems,” Rochelle said. “He has been such a staunch supporter because our work goes along with what he’s trying to achieve—which is community protection and a well community.”

Yaniero said that, after some initial growing pains, the CAC has progressed as a collaborative effort involving both military and civilian communities that will pay dividends in human and financial terms in the future. “If we really want to have an impact on violent crime, if we really want to have an impact on quality of life across the board, improving children’s lives eventually will improve everybody’s lives,” he said.

“The more productive citizens we have, the better off we’ll be,” Yaniero said. “What is known is that children who are abused grow up with that, and they can become the criminals of tomorrow. So, I think providing these services to help heal those children will have a tremendous impact in the future.”

With the guidance and backing of Yaniero and the One Place board, along with a host of other community and legislative leaders, One Place is moving to expand its services and create a facility that is better suited to deliver the diversity of programs needed in complex times.

The N.C. General Assembly in 2021 awarded the non-profit agency $8 million toward an extensive project that includes the creation of a state-of-the-art facility designed with space for those with trauma and special needs. N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore has joined local legislators as touting the expansion as a statewide model and promising response to a vexing problem. One Place offices are now located in a leased facility that has limited space to provide privacy for medical and mental health services to children in the CAC.

In announcing the state funding, Yaniero said a new building, with a more functional design, will improve critical interactions with children and families. “Our vision for our community is that every child grows up in a safe, stable, nurturing environment. This investment of $8 million will have a tremendous impact for generations,” he said.

One Place continues to work toward expanding mental health services to its program of services for victims—providing support to young victims after the legal process has ended. “That is probably the most important part,” said Yaniero, who identifies gaps in mental health services as one of the community’s most pressing needs, especially for law enforcement.

As One Place board chair, Yaniero has participated in discussions on the design and location of the new building. Current planning calls for the center to be near open spaces and parks – places where young victims and their counselors can find refuge and discover hope. “The new facility will be designed to help the healing process,” he said.

Yaniero has received wide recognition for his ability to tackle problems with viable solutions. He was named Jacksonville’s director of public safety in 2012, expanding his responsibilities to include the city’s other emergency services such as fire and rescue. He is a past president of the North Carolina Chiefs of Police Association and currently serves on the Governor’s Crime Commission. He and the Jacksonville Police Department have received FBI and international honors for their innovative work in community policing.

State Attorney General Josh Stein presented Yaniero with his office’s Dogwood Award in 2019, honoring the police chief for a comprehensive approach to attacking the opioid crisis—a campaign that included support for opening Jacksonville’s Dix Crisis center. “I appreciate his leadership and the work he’s done to bring smart prevention, treatment, and enforcement strategies to Jacksonville,” Stein said in making the announcement.

Kathleen Holbrook, director of the One Place Child Advocacy Center, described Yaniero as the CAC’s “Number one community-based cheerleader… since day one when planning began and every day since.” She pointed to his work in promoting collaboration among partner law-enforcement agencies and building a community presence through media presentations and fund-raisers. “He shares pearls of wisdom every time I see him,” she said. “We are so incredibly blessed to have this accomplished professional supporting the work we do on a daily basis.”

Yaniero and his wife Fay raised two children in Jacksonville, so he is working in familiar territory both as a law-enforcement officer and a father. His record of personal commitment and community service makes him an ideal leader for One Place, Rochelle said. “He’s an entrepreneurial thinker,” she said. “He has such credibility with his public service. And he has a deep faith—you always know what you are going to get with him. He comes to the table not just with thoughts, but always with, ‘We can do that.’ He comes with a collaborative spirit to move things forward.”

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