By Guy Page
Eager to improve public safety in a county with Vermont’s highest opioid death rate, the Town of Brattleboro was this close to signing a contract with a private security company for added police-like presence at municipal buildings and the local library.
But that changed when the owner of Hill Street Security appeared to refer to undesireables as ‘cockroaches.’ His firm has been dropped from consideration for the contract.
“It’s like, literally, it’s like cockroaches when you turn the kitchen light on. It’s literally like cockroaches running away, as if they know somebody’s there watching, they don’t like to be bothered.” – John Raffensberger
“You know, we’re thinking of forming the Cockroach Coalition, because if we’re gonna get called cockroaches, if we’re gonna get called all these horrible despicable names, then we are going to use these names to prove a point that we are not who you say we are.” – Lisa Marie
Through March, Vermont had 55 opioid deaths – 10 higher than the already-high three-year average. The growing OD rate is blamed on targeted, plentiful distrubution of fentanyl and other especially lethal drugs brought into Vermont from southern New England, including a nearby distribution hub in Springfield, MA. These drugs enter Vermont on I-91 in Windham County, which at 17.4 opioid deaths/100,000 people has twice the state average of 8.5.
Brattleboro is the urban center of Windham County. And the town parking garage is a favorite haunt of drug traffickers.
“During the past month we have seen an increase in people congregating at the garage which has resulted in an uptick of some criminal activity as well as unsanitary conditions within the elevators and on the upper floors. The recent carjacking has made the public fear for their safety if they need to utilize the garage for parking,” Chief Norma Hardy told the selectboard in a June 2 memo.
Like most Vermont police agencies, Hardy’s Brattleboro Police Dept. is short-staffed.
“While we are confident that we will be able to fill the ranks at theBrattleboro Police Department, this takes time,” Hardy said. “Hiring unarmed private security will not only help with our ability to stay informed as to what is transpiring at the garage but will also give the public a feeling of safety knowing that there is a constant presence there.”
Hardy – hired in part for her reputation for can-do innovation – recommended two private security candidates: Securitas, and Hill Street Security. Both have existing contracts with the Town of Brattleboro. The uniformed guards of Securitas would cover the garage. The ununiformed, and presumably less-threatening, Hill Streeters would patrol the library and other town buildings. Both would cost about $2000/week.
At a June 6 selectboard meeting, Hill Street Security owner John Raffensberger used an insect analogy to describe the benefits of unarmed security.
“What you’re going to see, because we have experience in town doing this with several retailers, as soon as you show a presence you’ll automatically see people scurry away,” Raffensberger told the selectboard. “It’s like, literally, it’s like cockroaches when you turn the kitchen light on, it’s literally like cockroaches running away, as if they know somebody’s there watching, they don’t like to be bothered.”
That comment didn’t sit well with some local residents.
“You know, we’re thinking of forming the Cockroach Coalition, because if we’re gonna get called cockroaches, if we’re gonna get called all these horrible despicable names, then we are going to use these names to prove a point that we are not who you say we are,” an impassioned person identified as Lisa Marie said at the June 20 selectboard meeting.
Politically correct expressions or not, some property managers want added security.
Susan Belville is the property manager of a building at 59 Elias Street. “I’ve not been able to find a tenant because of….people that are hanging out and malingering around the doorways, sitting on the steps, and blocking entrances to the building and the commercial spaces. This is a total disservice to the clients in my building,” she told the board June 20.
The Town will not move forward with the Hill Street Security contract, town officials said. It is not clear if Securitas will provide the town building/library coverage Hardy hoped Hill Street would cover.
Categories: Local government
Am I missing something ? Is this woman objecting to comparing drug dealers to cockroaches ? It could be argued that cockroaches serve a useful purpose. Personally, I can not say the same about drug dealers.
Calling a spade a spade might not be PC but accurate.
Perhaps calling them “behaving in a cockroach-like manner” might have been more acceptable, however, I also know that “Rhodes Scholars” or “distinguished” certainly wouldn’t have described them either.
In any case, nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face, folks! Enjoy your beat-downs and robberies and drug dealers. Poor, poor Vermont.
Brattleboro residents thoroughly deserve every social and economic misfortune handed them. I haven’t shopped, dined or visited there in years. Suggest others that fuel the economy do the same. Voting woke has a cost.
If the shoe fits….
Folks no longer listen and seem to look for ways to be insulted. It is a real shame. As quoted it is not name calling, and certainly not “…being called all these horrible and despicable names”.
So, Lisa Marie is a drug dealer/user? Why do we care what she thinks?
Clearly, our society, the English language and education in general has declined to the level where using a simile is not only not recognized but offensive.
It is the EXACT reason why I no longer shop in downtown Brattleboro. I now use Azure Standard and Walker Farm for my grocery shopping, buy almost everything else online or outside of Brattleboro. Or drive to a larger city for big box shopping if I must.
If I knew in 2008 when I returned to New England from out west after 20 years, that I would be stuck in far-left hell, I would have looked elsewhere. I wasn’t politically minded back then. I wish I didn’t have to be now. I was just looking for rural, organic, small town. Not SJW, far left, socialist ideologic neighbors and legislators.
The best part about the pandemic was that for “public safety” there was no one panhandling downtown. It was quiet and peaceful and clean. Of course, that wasn’t helpful for businesses. But…..
I don’t think she is a drug dealer
If the shoe didn’t fit, why did she put it on? Was she seeking occasion for a fight?
Trying to understand.
I think Lisa Marie was taking exception to the carjacker in the Bratt parking garage being called the cockroach that he is.
The heroin and fentanyl are coming from China and Mexico across our wide open border aided and abbeted by the cockroach Democrat politicians in Washington DC. Vermonters can thank Biden, Bernie, Welch and Sanders for this disaster.
I would think that actual cockroaches have more to feel insulted about than the drug dealers/users and muggers. Guess the Selectboard cares more about politically correct speech and the drug dealer’s/user fragile feelings than the safety and quality of life of those who elected them. Ya’ll should keep that in mind the next time you vote.
…buuuuutttttt lets not point the finger at the almight pharamceutical industry in bed with the AMA that started all this with a point system of “successfully treated” patiends rated by a PAIN scale… 1 to 10… I transcribed doctors reports from pain clinics all over the country from 1997 to 2008 on this scale for patients in ‘pain clinics,’ literally places to go and get opioids for your pain, whatever ailed you — treating the pain not the source of the pain. Opioids are notorious for declining efficacy and after about 2.5 months, you have to be switched to a NEW iteration of an opioid.
Lets blame the victims.
Ever the liberal way.
For people whose chronic antisocial behavior necessitates additional security, the description is accurate, appropriate and a good analogy. What’s the problem, is that word racist? sexist? If anything, it may is “insectist”…it is insulting to cockroaches. Cockroaches are only out looking for food for survival as instinct tells them to do. Humans who victimize others often do so with malice and aforethought. In a state such as Vermont with a VERY GENEROUS welfare cornucopia, no one can say that they had to victimize another human to survive. That is the job of the legislature to victimize the taxpayers on the contributing end of the equation, while we reward them with our votes every 2 years.
Maybe he should have just said, “…Like rats leaving a sinking ship…”
The criminal conduct will not be corrected if those in power are direct profiteers of the death and destruction within the community. The neo-liberals cannot be part of the solution because they can’t debate an issue without being triggered and retort with emotional neurosis. All courtesy of mind-control tactics that have them ensnared and incapacited to save themselves, let alone better the community for all. Vermont is a failed State. The I-91 corridor is a diseased carotid artery and all roads connected are spreading that disease throughout the State.
Melissa, just like the person who used the cockroach analogy, you have craftily used the English language to concisely describe liberals, their tactics and their mental failings. Thank you. “they can’t debate an issue without being triggered and retort with emotional neurosis”. LOL
If the ship is sinking rats make no pretense at getting away..saving their DONKEY you might say. But a cockroach, well they are still cockroaches and not at all fun to watch as they slither out of site and hide until the lights go back off.
There are many donkeys hanging around Vermont.
Put some teeth in our existing laws and lets fight back. Talk is cheap.
If the ship is sinking rats make no pretense at getting away..saving their DONKEY you might say. But a cockroach, well they are still cockroaches and no matter what their called.
His comment is accurate. A spade is a spade. They probably did the firm a favor because liberals would have sued the firm for the first arrest they disagreed with
I think the only reason liberal jurisdictions are ok with private security is that unlike police, they are NOT indemnified from liability in cases of excessive force or bias.