Late Monday evening the Burlington City Council voted by a margin of 8-4 to raise the authorized cap of officers at the Burlington Police Department to 79. With an additional 8 officers at the Airport currently, this action effectively raises the cap from 74 to 87 officers.
Mayor Weinberger made the following statement: “The City Council acted correctly this evening in restoring the ranks of our police department to a functional and operational number of 87 officers. It will take a long time to repair the grave decline of our public safety capacity that was initiated last June, but tonight’s action does send a positive message to our officers and the Burlington community that public safety and maintaining a viable department remain a shared goal of the Administration and the Council.”
Weinberger in particular thanked Progressive City Councilors Zoraya Hightower and Jane Stromberg “for recognizing through their [yes] votes that our sworn officers are foundational to realizing our shared goals of a transformed, progressive public safety infrastructure in Burlington.”
However, there is no quick fix for the city’s acute shortage of police officers due to numerous resignations amid the Progressive-led ‘defund the police’ decision last June. The hiring process for even experienced, well-regarded police officers is lengthy, and hiring and training new recruits can take up to a year.
Categories: Police Reports
They “relent”? NO. They REVERSED their dangerous & irresponsible actions from over a year ago ONLY because they were bound to be booted out at election time.
They need to ousted in ANY event – they are bad folks doing a very bad job. Too bad voters have very short memories.
Bring back CHECKS & BALANCES to Vermont!
City Councilors Hightower and Stromberg are two of the ringleaders that forced Burlington into this incredible “Defund the Police” debacle in the first place. There is no way that Weinberg should be praising them after the way they have acted and problems it has caused the city.
The good people of Burlington expect and deserve to have City Councilors who act with wisdom in overseeing the city……Hightower and Stromberg instead of demonstrating wisdom acted like a couple of sophomoric teenagers with their inflexible defund the police demands…….It’s perhaps time for them to depart Burlington city leadership and take some time to reflect on the harm done……..The same is true for the other Councilors who have allowed this issue to devolve into the mess presently on hand.
These may be harsh words, but they are deserved following what Burlington has experienced in the past year and the work that remains ahead.
I was involved. They aren’t mere “teenagers”. It’s dangerously more far reaching.
It’s perhaps time for them to “Leave” Burlington and time for those who put them and other councilors in office who need to reflect on the “harm” done to the community its citizens and its reputation. I guess time will tell!
Ya mean less police officers on duty did not make the city safer ? Whoda thunk it ?
Are those fruitloops still thinking that disarming the cops is a good idea ?
Thank the Divine!
Frankly, i dont care what happens to Burlington anyone. In my mind its lost. Let those people live in the circumstances they created