Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison and Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew T. Birmingham today issued the following statement related to prosecutorial decisions arising from the March 11 incident on Dorset Street in South Burlington:

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George’s recent statement just gave permission for people at large gatherings to obstruct police officers and interfere with arrests. This is a disheartening decision that sets a dangerous precedent. State’s Attorney George has a vastly different vision from our own for what public safety and the rule of law looks like. She has missed an opportunity to delineate between the lawful conduct the First Amendment protects and the lawlessness of criminal behavior that escalates volatile situations and harms communities.

We take offense to State’s Attorney George’s suggestion that state and local law enforcement bear equal responsibility for the “unacceptable and perhaps criminal behavior” that took place on Dorset Street.  

Furthermore, to impugn the ability of the police to conduct fair, thorough investigations directly undermines all the cases in the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office, which relies on the investigative work of police departments each day to support every case the office is prosecuting.

The state’s attorney’s failure to bring charges in this matter is likely to embolden people at similar events in the future to cross the line into criminal behavior, placing the public and law enforcement at greater risk of harm.

In fact, lawbreakers in Chittenden County already seemed to know they can act with impunity. Individuals at the Dorset Street incident repeatedly stated that State’s Attorney George would not prosecute them for their behavior that day. 

It turns out they were right.