State stepping in to help troubled city
By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
The short-staffed Vermont State Police will resume foot patrols beginning this afternoon in the trouble-plagued city of Burlington, Vermont News First has been told.
Off-duty State Troopers were initially asked to volunteer to fill either 4- or 8-hour shifts, but as of Friday department members said they were told there may be a need to send on-duty troopers to Burlington to fill the patrol quotas.
Shifting on-duty troopers to Burlington would reduce the amount of state police coverage provided in some nearby counties. VSP is facing its own shortage of personnel due to retirements and other departures. The department, like most police agencies are struggling to fill vacancies.
It is all part of the new 14-point public safety plan that Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has developed in recent weeks. It is designed to respond to recent pleas from Progressive Party Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak for help with the ongoing disorder in her city.
Shootings, stabbings, beatings – including one fatal — open drug use and sales, panhandlers and the homeless have created monumental problems for Burlington city officials and have discouraged the public from going downtown.
The cost of the Vermont State Police patrols will be picked up by state taxpayers and not the city of Burlington, officials said. The initial plan is to have the Vermont State Police available from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 and the coverage time is noon to 8 p.m. to start.
The foot patrols, which will focus on Burlington City Hall Park and the Church Street Marketplace, could be extended into the new year, if needed, officials said.
Three years ago, when Burlington called on Vermont State Police to help fill night shifts in the downtown area, the city reimbursed the state of Vermont from all the officer vacancies on the city force.
The request for help at that time came in the aftermath of a move by the Progressive Party that led to a resolution before the Burlington City Council to defund the police and slash staffing in June 2020.
The Council voted 9-3 to reduce the authorized strength of the Burlington Police from 105 to 74 officers and to redirect funding to programs that support people of color.
The six Progressive Party councilors, Zoraya Hightower, Jack Hanson, Jane Stromberg, Max Tracy, Perri Freeman, Brian Pine were joined by three Democrats, Karen Paul, Franklin Paulino and Sarah Carpenter.
Out of the nine positive votes to defund police, eight City Councilors have moved on. Only Sarah Carpenter in Ward 4 remains on the panel.
Democrats Joan Shannon, Chip Mason and Independent Ali Dieng voted against defunding police and have moved on.
Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said Friday afternoon State Police spokesman Adam Silverman could answer questions about the current deployment. Silverman later said he was directed to send questions to Interim Burlington Police Chief Sean Burke or the Governor’s Office.
Chief Burke said the city of Burlington is not expected to pay for any of the extra patrols provided by at least three enforcement agencies in the state of Vermont.
“We appreciate this partnership,” Burke said.
The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, which has about 28 sworn law enforcement officers, also is expected to send some of its staff to do traffic work in the city. Wade Cochran, chief of the enforcement and safety division, said his officers will begin the Burlington detail on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery will have investigators, who are certified as fulltime law enforcement officers, doing routine compliance checks at bars and stores, according to Skyler Genest, the chief of enforcement.
Underage drinking and overserving patrons frequently lead to problems for the police to handle, he said.
The department has 14 police-trained investigators, including Tom Chenette, who retired from Burlington Police this summer after 20 years of service, Genest said.
Mulvaney-Stanak blamed Gov. Scott recently for not coming to the aid of the city with all its problems, but the Governor noted the Mayor never requested any help from the state. He responded to a question at a news conference that it was easier to blame others for your own failures.
Once the Mayor asked for help, Scott’s team created a short-term 14-point action plan that included state patrols in the city. It also created a special accountability docket in the criminal court in Chittenden County for repeat offenders. Vermont’s court system and the liberal outdated bail laws have failed to address the ongoing repeat offenders.
The criminal court in Chittenden County has identified nearly 200 repeat offenders that have 5 or more current pending cases that are clogging the docket. Their cases have been assigned to Judge Martin Maley, who is coming out of retirement, to run the pilot project. The idea is to use a mix of jail time, drug and mental health counseling and other services to address the ongoing problems.