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By Michael Bielawski
In an election that included non-citizen participation, Queen City residents voted to create new police oversight powers that take some control away from the chief regarding disciplinary matters.
Residents voted for the charter change 62.5% to 37.5%, or 11,398 to 6,847 votes. These are unofficial results from the city.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is calling the move “a compromise that moves us in the right direction.” She further said the City would “continue to find ways to heed the calls for racial justice and fair and impartial policing practices.”
Before the change can officially become law, it must be approved by the state’s newly reshuffled “purple” legislature.
Police: “feel our professional input was disregarded”
Chief Jon Murad as well as the Burlington Police Officers Association have each expressed concerns that this feel-good sounding initiative will ultimately hinder their efforts to attract strong candidates to police Burlington.
Their statement includes, “We believe this question was presented to voters in a fashion that did not afford appropriate analysis to make a truly informed assessment. While we value the opinions of all Burlington residents, we as a union, representing our members, and with what we believe the best intentions of our community in mind, will continue to express our disagreement with this charter change, next at the State level.”
A power shift?
The charter change says this will “further define the role of the police chief and police commission, providing opportunity for the police chief and police commission to jointly establish rules and regulations for the police department and for the city council to resolve any dispute with respect to the same and for the council to delegate the authority for auditing or monitoring of the police department to the police commission.”
It took the Burlington City Council three years to appoint Chief Jon Murad from interim to official chief status. Also, the Council defunded the department by about a third via attrition in June of 2020. The workload per remaining officer has about doubled since that time, and crime rates have risen substantially.
The referendum adds new people to those who will be doing this oversight. They are, “adding a stated intent for the police commission to include representation from the diverse nature of the city’s constituents.”
The proposal will also provide, “a process for review of alleged misconduct of members of the police department, with opportunity for review and recommendation by the police commission, including the ability to review documents and other evidence relevant to the allegation as the City Council shall determine by ordinance, on any disposition of an allegation of misconduct by any member of the police department, aside from the chief, who shall continue to answer to the city council for any such allegation.
In some scenarios, the chief could see a decision he makes regarding disciplinary actions overturned.
This panel would be “as appointed by ordinance for determination of the disposition of an allegation of misconduct (subject to appeal rights), where the chief of police does not accept the police commission’s recommendation and after ⅔ vote of the police commission, provided that department members shall retain appeal rights of any such disposition to the police commission or in the case of conflict of such body, the independent panel?”
Non-citizen voting
Non-citizens voted in this election in Burlington. There was a lawsuit against the city regarding this as reported by VDC in June.
“Plaintiffs seek an injunction compelling Defendant to refrain from implementing the invalid voting scheme, including refraining from registering noncitizen voters to participate in education-related elections and referendums in the City of Burlington,” the report states.
A report on Daily Caller notes that illegals voting in this year’s elections are a continuous problem nationwide.
“Several states say that the Biden-Harris administration has not cooperated with their efforts to prevent noncitizens from voting. The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Virginia in October and Alabama in September over their efforts to remove noncitizens too close to the election. Texas, Ohio and Florida filed their own lawsuits against the administration this month for allegedly hampering their efforts, while other states told the Daily Caller News Foundation the federal government has not supported attempts to identify noncitizen voters.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: Burlington
Burlington doesn’t deserve the caliber of Police Chief they have he should get done and go to a department that would appreciate his experience and knowledge he brings to the table. Let them hire a DEI Chief!!
What can I say at this point… Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I’m amazed the entire remaining BPD hasn’t resigned en masse. Good luck, Burlington. You’re definitely going to need it.
Have you even considered what’s going to happen on January 21 when all the illegal immigrant benefits are cut off? No… didn’t think so.
Oh, and say goodbye to your *sanctuary city* BS, btw. Same to the rest of the state. Best get prepared for that steep drop in federal funding! I for one am going to revel in a sweet bath of liberal tears on January 21, I can tell you that.
The entire BPD needs to make like teachers and take a “sick out” weekend. That will be the only way they will impress upon the citizenry that the services they provide are essential. Besides law enforcement, many junkies owe their lives to the quick response of Burlington Police with narcan. Putting moonbat cop-haters in charge of police is beyond senseless.
I know you absolutely love your government violence enforcers, but until the Judges separate the offenders from society, the government gun force is a meaningless waste of space, arresting the same 50 people over and over.
I have no idea why they brought up “racial justice”. Justice doesn’t differentiate between races. I think they might be racist.
I don’t see a problem with this. I’m sure the government guns will never do anything to break the law, so there should be no issues here. Now do the judges next.
Oh so you don’t mind these drug runners infiltrating your city/state? Let me guess, all cops are bad, right? When Sarah George starts doing her job then I will listen to you.
#John – I care much about fixing the problem of drug runners and all kinds of other nasties infiltrating any area. However, spending more money, and allowing government servants to investigate themselves for any wrong doing is not going to fix the problem of these infiltrators.
The ONLY fix is control. The ONLY way to *control* is to provide the druggies with their drugs through legitimized systems that make them less problematic, however with a barrier to entry that makes it less likely that people will decide to start in the first place. Defund the drug dealers, gangs, terrorists, CIA black market funding, etc. Keep criminals in areas where they aren’t able to do their crimes any more.
For example – Mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison if you buy or sell problematic drugs illegally – If you want to take problematic drugs, go to a drug use enrollment center and sign up for a prescription inpatient user program, or inpatient get clean program. People that want drugs will likely sign up. People that want to try drugs and get started are much less likely to sign up to begin with. Drug dealers likely won’t have enough customers to make life in prison a good risk/reward ratio. Organized crime will need to find new ways to exist, which isn’t likely. Less problematic drugs could be obtained in limited amounts with an outpatient program, and if they become problematic or too frequent it could be switched to inpatient.
It’s a win win.
Kick a dog when it’s down. Well played Burlington residents.
You deserve what you get.
What a misguided decision and waste of taxpayer money that could have gone to hiring more oh-so-much-needed police officers in Burlington.
Shut off all federal funding to Vermont and stop creating money from bonding and grants and this state is finished.
Let’s see Burlington home and business owners support and defend our police department from the Chief on down to the patrol officers, what we don’t need are the feckless city council being the overlords of the police department, because we have all seen how well they handle city governance with things like drugs, crime and
homelessness on every corner of the city, now they believe they know all the ins and outs off policing…………….. give me a break !!
How do you get this nonsense passed, liberals on the city tit, with non citizens also on the city tit, and that’s the same way they stay in power.
If the Burlington Police Department needs overlords from the gaggle of fools, known as the city council, the same council that de-funded and cut headcount at the BPD,
and how well that’s working for Burlington residence ………… Yeah.
The Queen City has become a cesspool, so thank you city council, and all your astute
decision making polices, and this is just another boondoggle, fools looking for more control, to screw some thing else up !!
Wake up people
Problem is that the majority of voters in Burlington are firmly attached to the tit, and the contributing members of society are outnumbered.
I noticed that the “City of Misery aka Burlington” did not make it mandatory for each councilor to ride along a BPD cruiser for a consecutive 30 days nor the Mayor to complete the entire law enforcement training “just to become eligible” as a candidate for councilor or Mayor “to better understand and convey that knowledge to the Misery residents; what the City of Misery Officers endures daily. Clearly; Misery’s politicians are unqualified to make decisions as they all lack any proper credentials.
The Progressives have turned Burlington into a miniature San Francisco with all of their liberal policies and now BLM, DEI and wokeness has been rejected nationwide leading up to and culminating with the re-election of President Donald J Trump. I am going to sit back and watch in amusement as they try to undo what they have done. I suspect Burlington will become like Detroit in the very near future, high business vacancies and bankrupt due to lack of law and order!
Burlingtonians have been, and will continue to reap what they have sown. The lunacy of the issue is that they are so vested in their “progressiveness” that they can’t see how regressive it in fact is.
Burlington could be so much more than what it has become. But progressive policies are a death spiral. Every. Single. Time. There is not one progressive-led city that isn’t circling the drain right now. Not one. It is telling that at a time when VT is gaining in population, Burlington is becoming a has-been town, with businesses moving out because of years of progressive policies. But hey Burly, its clear you’re getting not only the government you want, but the government you deserve!!🤣🤣🤣
Burlington….. The one place in Vermont that everyone avoids now. A washed up place of the past ! It was one of the first places I would take out of state friends to check out the waterfront and Downtown. Now I avoid it like the plague it is ! Good Luck !!
Burlington will have a harder time filling the vacant police jobs. That’s a fact.
As far as illegal immigrants voting. Well I will remind everyone. We are a society of laws. Illegal is not legal. They should not be allowed to vote at all. Why not become a citizen first.
@VermontVermonter, in the truest sense of legalizing dangerous (to self) behavior, I’m all for it, as a Jeffersonian Libertarian. That said, there is NO safety net! You O.D., no narcan…you get a grave in the potters field, you live on the fringes of society, you cross the line…you get hung until dead like Newgate Prison in 19th century England. You wake up and want help and are REALLY willing to commit to change, then we can talk about helping someone change course…otherwise it’s their baby NOT mine. While I don’t advocate for living a self destructive life, I do advocate for one’s freedom to choose it…until the line is crossed to harming another and then one must pay the price!!!
Yes it’s a very complicated issue, 100% caused by government. We have become a very week and stupid child-like society. We cannot subsidize this behavior the way we are doing it now. People stealing from others to support their bad habits should have years of mandatory jail time with forced labor (to pay for their own jail if they cannot afford it) and victim restitution.
The government brings these drugs in and works with cartels, so people that advocate the drug war are being fooled. You shouldn’t be qualified for any “public assistance” if you choose this lifestyle. The list goes on and on. People are too simplistic and want a “solution”, so I provided a hybrid example above.
Until we have true accountability and liberty as intended, I think I support a socially pragmatic hybrid approach (similar to the above example) as a first step to ultimate freedom. If the government stayed in their lane and let the people do what they do from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
But staying on topic, the government should never be in charge of investigating itself. That’s how we got here to begin with.
What kind of ballot did these non citizens receive that only allowed them to vote for local issues and not President?