Mitchell Yanak joined the University of Pennsylvania on October 16, 2002 as the Director of Communications for the Division of Public Safety. The Communications Center, also referred to as “PennComm”, serves as the central dispatching and emergency call center for the University, processing over 180,000 emergency calls annually. In addition to his duties as the Director of Communications, Mitch serves as the project director for the Division of Public Safety’s Records Management System, and GIS Mapping System, and is responsible for analyzing crime statistics and directing all technological changes to support law enforcement initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Mitch served twenty-seven years in emergency public service with the Philadelphia Police Department. From November of 1999 to October of 2002 he served as the Commanding Officer of the Internal Affairs Division, holding the rank of Inspector in the Philadelphia Police Department, a Department consisting of 7,000 sworn officers and 2,000 civilian support personnel serving a population of nearly 1,450,000. Mitch was responsible for directing the investigative efforts of 75 investigators who were tasked with ferreting out police corruption and misconduct. While at Internal Affairs Mitch spearheaded the installation of an Image Retrieval System; led, directed, developed and coordinated policies and investigator training programs for Internal Affairs investigators and directed the installation of an “At Risk” employee early warning system.

Mitch also served as the Commanding Officer of Research and Planning and Grant Administration where he was responsible for program planning, development, research, evaluation, coordinating, directing, budget management and facilitating the general operation and implementation of over 140 million dollars in Federal, State, and Corporate Grants. Prior to his assignment in Research and Planning and Grants, Mitch served as the Commanding Officer of the 16th Police District, overseeing daily operations of 120 sworn officers in a community of 100,000 that included Drexel University and parts of the University of Pennsylvania campuses. In addition, Mitch served as the Commanding Officer of Information Systems which supported the Computer Aided Dispatching and 9-1-1 systems, which processed over 3 million 9-1-1 emergency calls and one million dispatches annually.

His educational background consists of a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from La Salle University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy; the Penn State Police Executive Development Institute; Temple University’s Public Service Management Institute; the Traffic Management Institute of Northwestern University; and a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police sponsored by The Police Executive Research Forum. Mitch lives in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, is the father of two children, and is a Vietnam era Veteran, having served in the United States Army.