By Michael Bielawski
The preliminary Year-End-Report by the Burlington Police is out. Key takeaways include that serious incidents such as overdoses are up and the department is replenishing its staffing levels to where they were before they were defunded in 2020 by about a third of their officers.
Record crimes reported
In total there were 30,760 incidents recorded for 2023, that’s over the previous high of 29,684 in 2018 and 25,190 in 2022.
The report details some other concerning stats. It states, “Incidents in 2023 were up 22% compared to 2022. They were up 43% over 2021. BPD addressed more incidents than in 2018 with 50% fewer patrol officers than in 2018. Of the 30,760 incidents in 2023, the BPD “stacked” 4,150, or 14%. Additionally, 3,872 were taken via online reporting, or 13%.”
Broken down by category, the most unsettling trend in the report is a major rise in overdoses. There were 430 such incidents reported in 2023, the next highest year was 252 in 2022, 145 in 2021, and 100 in 2020, and there were fewer than 60 in the two years prior.
Larceny was also at a new high of 1,626 incidents. The previous high was 2022 with 1,550 such incidents. There were 1,106 larceny incidents in 2021 and before that, there were 700 or fewer in the years prior.
Mental health incidents were also way up with 1,027 such incidents. That doesn’t beat the high of 1,237 last year, but it’s well above the years prior which don’t get over 1,000.
There were also 16 gunfire incidents this year, down from 26 last year but still up overall including just 3 and 5 such incidents during 2019 and 2018 respectively.
The report notes that simply comparing current trends to last year doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Year-to-year comparisons can be misleading. To get a sense of how 2023 compares to historic norms, this compares the five-year average, from 2018 to 2022, to 2023,” it states.
City Council defunded the police in 2020
The very first page gets into that the City Council voted in 2020 to reduce the size of the department by about a third, and in the years since crimes have risen substantially.
The report states, “In June 2020, the Burlington City Council voted to reduce, by attrition, the authorized headcount from 105 to 74. An officer exodus ensued. In Oct 2021, the council raised the cap from 74 to 87, but it was not until a new, strong police contract was ratified in July 2022 that headcount stabilized. We are now working to rebuild.”
The impact was substantial. On June 1 2020 the department had 92 officers, and by July of 2022, that number went down to just over 60. Currently, they are still mostly understaffed with 69 officers. The department had averaged nearly 100 officers from 2015 through 2020.
However, the 69 officers don’t mean that 69 are available for patrols. There are only 21 officers available for patrols, 13 are unavailable for various reasons, 15 are supervisors, 10 are detectives. Other duties comprise the rest.
The report states, “We begin 2024 with 69 total sworn officers, of whom 56 are available to be independently deployed. This is insufficient for Vermont’s largest, most crucial city. Historically, headcount averaged 97; currently, we are authorized for 87 officers.”
New hires will help
While staffing is short, there is new help and some promotions. The promotions include three corporals who are now sergeants as well as three sergeants who are now lieutenants.
Chief Jon Murad is now formally the chief rather than the interim chief as the City Council voted to make that change earlier this year.
And there’s more, including they swore in six new employees. These include a records clerk, a CSL, a recruitment coordinator, a public information officer, and two dispatchers.
They also swore in five new police recruits.
A requirement to train officers in ‘equity’
The department is being forced by state mandates to implement special training in collaboration with the Center for Policing Equity (CPE).
The report states, “According to Vermont’s Rule 13, police must complete Fair and Impartial Policing (FIP) training biennially. And as per Burlington’s 2020 racial justice resolution, all City staff must complete training “that explore the roots, impacts and solutions to systemic oppression, including but not limited to systemic racism.”
Un-armed officers to help
The report noted that non-armed officers called Community Service Officers (CSOs) and Community Support Liaisons (CSLs) have been aiding with responses for certain non-violent incidents. Currently, there are six and five of these positions filled respectively.
The author is a reporter for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: Burlington, Crime, Local government
Is it a shortage of officers or a shortage of societal morals leading to crime problems in Burlington and nationwide? In my view this is largely due to a shift away from faith in God and the personal accountability that the knowledge of a higher being and eternal life brings. People are consumed with a self serving mindset largely provoked by a marxist cultural revolution where google, youtube, netflix, facebook, tic tok, pharma, pornhub, disney, vanguard, etc. are our gods. Unintended accident of a connected world or 100% intentional? Ask the UN and the WEF. This degradation of our societies is very purposeful and an essential tool in the box of The Great Reset. I do not beleive the answer to these problems lies at the polls. Voting is important and we must but we also have to recognize that the only true path to victory is faith in God. When we do that, the rest will follow. Until then cities like Burlington, our own little Babylon, will continue down a satanic path of ruin.
Elect Miro Governor of The People’s Republic 2024! Let’s give Vermont every benefit of having the same effective policies and programs, as do the fine people of our Queen City! That will solve all problems and lead to a bright new future for us all.
Let’s be clear when we look at the number of supposedly unintentional “overdoses”, that it is a matter of interpretation what that actually constitutes. As more people become aware of the opioid situation, more frequent calls come in for someone simply writhing around enjoying their opioid rapture. Ask any EMT, some of these junkies get downright angry and combative because someone has come along and robbed them of their ecstasy with a nose full of Narcan, which puts them into instant withdrawal. And let’s also admit that not all cases of “overdoses” are from intentional opioid abuse, since fentanyl is finding it’s way as an adulterant into many street drugs, taken by those who had no intention of purchasing opioids. Those cases should more accurately be considered “poisonings”. The constantly increasing number of “overdoses” is likely being reported to tug for more public funding and to justify proposed “safe injection facilities”.
Just wait til y’all see the OD stats next year- the Chinese just synthesized a new version of Fentanyl that’s impervious to Narcan- in case we were unsure of their intentions before. It’s the modern day Opium Wars now.
At this point in history where the dangers are so well known, anyone who dabbles in the recreational use of street opioids is simply surrendering themself to Darwinism, rather than victimhood.
another method of population control///it seems to be working/// it will help save the planet///
What these figures tell me is that 50 years of the state cascading to the left has wrought on our communities.
The best way to reverse this horrible trend is to vote GOP in every election,local,state and national.