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