The Burlington City Council on Monday voted again not to hire new officers, even as the city sees consistent serious crimes committed, including at least one shootout in late July.
The Burlington Police Department issued multiple reports about a July 31 incident that occurred early in the morning, including three individuals who may have been involved in a shootout.
“Last night, at approximately 0315 hours, police received reports of a shooting with multiple
people firing at each other,” reads the initial release. It notes three individuals attempted to flee.
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad
“The truck attempted to elude officers and, during the evasion, an occupant discarded a handgun from the moving vehicle. Eventually the truck stopped behind 90 Pearl Street where officers detained two black males and a black female. Further, officers located a bag containing a sizable amount [of] crack cocaine directly in front of the truck,” a press release from BPD states.
The incident didn’t stop Burlington City Council this week from voting against raising officer staffing, despite warnings from the police chief that they are getting stretched thin.
In early July, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said the department had about 67 officers, when 96 would be necessary to keep all residents safe. In 2020, city council voted to reduce the force by 30 percent, capping the number of police officers at 74.
Meanwhile the city continues to see reports of potential shootings.
On Aug. 1, at about 4 a.m., BPD “received multiple 911 calls regarding potential gunshots/fireworks in the area of the Andy A_Dog Williams Skatepark.” While officer initially “did not locate any evidence of gunfire,” at about 4:18 p.m. another caller “advised that there appeared to be bullet holes in the 300 Lake Street apartment building. Officers responded and were able to locate multiple bullet holes. A bullet fragment was also recovered from an apartment in the building.”
Most recently, on Saturday, another shootout may have occurred. The Burlington Police Dispatch received multiple reports of a fight and gunshots in the street near the Simons gas station, at the intersection of South Winooski Avenue and Bank Street. The police report notes several officers “heard the gunfire and responded,” and witnesses in the area saw a fight between about a dozen people,”during which a shot or shots had been fired.”The incident is under further investigation.
“Officers recovered evidence supporting the discharge of a firearm at the scene, and detectives are now investigating this gunfire incident,” BPD reported.
On July 23 the department posted an update about a violent beating that occurred in the twilight hours on a mid-June night. The suspect in that event is still at large and was caught on video.
“The Burlington Police Department is once again asking for public assistance in regards to locating an attempted homicide suspect responsible for striking a male in the skull repeatedly, resulting in multiple fractures, near the intersection of Main Street and South Winooski Avenue during the early morning hours of June 21, 2021,” the BPD states.
A data page on the department’s website allows users to track how many incidents occur over specific periods of time. The crime map was updated through the end of June. For that month, 2,081 total incidents were reported. These include one murder, two felony domestic assaults, three aggravated assaults, 10 stolen cars, ten drug overdose calls, 15 burglaries, 20 incidents of vandalism, and more.
That compares to May, when 1,977 total incidents were reported. That month the city saw no murders, no felony domestic assaults, one bomb threat, nine aggravated assaults, seven stolen cars, nine drug overdoses, six burglaries, and 69 incidents of vandalism.
Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.
When gang related urban-style drug trafficking gun violence occurred during the time of the Trump administration, at least we could count on our tough, no nonsense US Attorney Nolan to step in when local jurisdictions refused to. Now we have a Biden lackey as US Attorney who will turn a blind eye to violence committed by folks who are deemed to be of demographics that have been “historically disadvantaged”.
The demoprogs own this and collectively speaking, we Vermonters voted for it. Now we deal with the aftermath.
Burlington is becoming just like every other Liberal Run City, complete chaos !!
The only way to fix the problem is to vote these inept fools out, so Burlingtonians
do you what your ” Queen City Back ” or are you happy with its ” Woke-Ness ”
that brings crime, like the last two shootings.
Have the perpetrators been caught, and are they held until trial, do they have records
and can they legally own the firearms used ?? If not have the Federal agencies been
called ??………..Answers please, it won’t be reported will it !!
Wake up people you have control and it’s your safety.
Burlington was once a place to go to shopping, dining, and entertainment of all types for all types. Now, if I were a business owner in Burlington, I would close my business at sunset or earlier and draw the gates over the windows and doors. Obviously, the criminals know it’s a free for all at night and during the day even more targets abound with the college kids coming back. Wasn’t Burlington the city of no guns in city limits? The Burlington City Council must be taking their cues from Lori Lightfoot and DeBlasio. Boycott all Vermont towns and cities who do not support police because it is evident they care less about their residents and businesses safety – they care even more less about visitors and tourist safety. Insurance companies need to take notice of these policies and price accordingly. Residents in these woke places – be ready to pay dearly – not only in currency, but possibly your life.
All according to the narrative: We are children that need to have our rights and freedoms removed to make us safe. Humans are fatally flawed. We are incapable of policing ourselves.
Does no one notice the TIMING of these ‘incidents’?
LOTS of mullah to be made as the multiple different versions of ‘crisis actors’ these days… create the problem and then they can implement the solution. Schwab and Soros know this method of social engineering quite well.
We’ve got the biggest police state in our national history breathing down our necks, and no consideration of what that kind of pressure and oppression on humanity does to the psyche.
Yes, its real but yes, its also very likely a false flag.
Out of state actors, literally.
Are these black offenders just acting out their understanding of CRT?
Dazzle them with brilliance. Baffle them with b.s.
Which are we today?
There ARE no coinky dinks.
The Burlington City counsel is full of Progressives and Independents. Now I get it. These are the socialist who are trying to tear the country apart. Where are the Burlington Republicans! Too bad. How many more will be murdered, raped, robbed etc. because of this action. Hang your heads in shame.
If the city council members do not want a police presence, as do criminals, what kind of crimes are being committed by those members that don’t want the police to know about?
The crime will only get worse in Burlington until the voters start electing people to the City Council who support law enforcement and a Chittenden County States Attorney who actually wants to prosecute criminals instead of defending them.
Thank you True North and thank you Michael Bielawski. If Vermont is ever going to be able to cure the ideological cancer that has invaded this little state and particularly the city of Burlington, it will be thanks to your relentless reporting work . Only well educated citizens will be able to vote out inept elected officials and thus eliminate the type of paradoxical behavior exhibited by the current progressives in charge whose blindness to the facts is pathological or perhaps serves a dark design, the safety of its citizens not being part of it. TNR you are doing your part, it is up to the citizens to do theirs . The facts are irredeemably clear, the solution unequivocal.
Re: “Only well-educated citizens will be able to vote out inept elected officials and thus eliminate the type of paradoxical behavior exhibited by the current progressives in charge whose blindness to the facts is pathological or perhaps serves a dark design, the safety of its citizens not being part of it.”
Surely, we must recognize “the current progressives in charge” may be (likely are) uneducated. God forgive them for they know not what they do.
And that TNR is doing its part to educate is one thing. But for “citizens to do theirs” requires one distinct, tangible, next step – to assure a balanced and reasonable education for our children. It all begins with School Choice.
I watched that city council meeting and am SHOCKED at the councils decision to NOT add more police. The first duty of public leadership is to protect the citizens. That is clearly not on the mind of the city council. The good people of Burlington deserve better. Time for a change on the council. Voters need to lead the way.
Dictionary.com defines Revolution as follows:
“an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.”
Following United States Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Sanders founded an organization titled “Our Revolution” found at OurRevolution.com
United States Senators take an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, and not to “overthrow” it. Bernie Sanders and his ilk are traitors to the United States Constitution as founded, and should be treated as such.
Given that you watched the meeting, can you confirm the Digger report that: “The commission voted in favor of a resolution requesting that at its next meeting, the council consider raising the officer cap to 82 officers as the police department continues to face dwindling staffing levels”, is untrue?
The gaggle of fools on the Burlington City Council, only care about agenda’s and
feel they are the ultimate voice, they are not !!
It’s about time that property owners stand up against this nonsense, last years protest in
Battery Park complete mayhem over policing in the City, when 90% of those protesting
were not even citizens of the city……..fools on the council wanted to be ” Woke “.
If the City Council cannot protect its citizens, they need to be removed, and the last
two shootings on Downtown Burlington proves they don’t have a clue on what’s needed
as far as policing in the City and apparently neither does the Mayor….. Pretty sad !!
Downtown is in complete shambles, homeless hanging out everywhere and these fools
wonder why the city is in the shape it’s in, Liberals in charge with no common sense.
Burlington’s voters chose the City Council, so it must be what Burlington’s voters wanted.
Perhaps Ward 3’s special election will alter the council- or Burlington (and Chittenden County) will have to accept whatever these petulant children on the city council do. It seems trite to restate the phrase “Elections have consequences”.
When I read about the Burlington City Council’s decision not to allow for additional manpower, as a Burlington resident, I emailed my two city councilor representatives and the Burlington mayor. I received one response, that from City Councilor Joan Shannon. The following is our exchange:
——
You brought this on yourselves. Years of feeding the “crocodile” in the hopes of not losing your positions and not understanding that eventually you’ll be eaten too, when it’s your time. You probably no longer even understand or believe in the culture that is being dismantled before your eyes. And the feeling of shame doesn’t even enter your thoughts as mere survival is all that concerns you now.
——
Hi Tom
If you have a question I can be helpful with I’m happy to respond. But if you just want to tell me I’m wrong and stupid I don’t feel I need to debate that. I do read what you send though.
Best
Joan
——
Joan,
You falsely accuse me. No where in my email in-question, copied below, will you find the word “stupid”. The fact that you’re not stupid tells me you’d rather evade my points, than confront them. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re just too uncomfortable to address it. I have implied questions in my email, why don’t you address them instead of the implied accusation of “stupid”. Your party, the Democrat Party, has essentially been hijacked by progressivism. Progressivism is a euphemism for socialism. BLM and CRT have their origins in Marxism and I can factually prove this. Did you partake in the painting of the BLM logo on Main Street? Now there’s a question. All that is going on now has one major and unifying objective, and that is to “dismantle” our current Constitutional system and culture, root and branch. You can continue to believe this isn’t what’s happening or continue to believe that you are displaying sympathy for the “oppressed”, but know that you’re being ‘played’. I believe Lenin coined a term for it, “Useful Idiot”. It’s time to return to our roots, to those glorious principles found in our Declaration of Independence and the means to better approximate those principles, found in our Constitution. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves”, Abraham Lincoln.
Tom Licata
——
As of this writing, I have heard nothing in return. Neither Mayor Miro Weinberger nor City Councilor Karen Paul responded, as they have never responded to me when I have written to them in the past. They just ignore me.
It would appear, based on her only response, that she recognizes she’s both wrong & stupid. You probably weren’t the only one who reminded her of that.
Your implication being that Mr. Licata was not ‘falsely accused’?
After all, to say that “…not understanding that eventually you’ll be eaten too” and “…You probably no longer even understand…”, seems like being characterized as ‘…both wrong & stupid’… to me too.
It’s never advisable to assume to know anyone’s state of mind – being stupid, uncomfortable, evasive, or feeling shame. Better to simply reiterate and clarify the question.
For example: Given the current increase in crime incidents, can someone on the Burlington City Council explain why it decided not to recommend additional manpower for its police force?
Of course, I have a question for TNR too. Why did this TNR report not include more detail of the Burlington City Council discussion on the matter? Instead choosing to list only the litany of recent crimes in the city.
Does TNR assume its readers aren’t interested in the fact that “The commission voted in favor of a resolution requesting that at its next meeting, the council consider raising the officer cap to 82 officers as the police department continues to face dwindling staffing levels”?
https://vtdigger.org/2021/08/10/burlington-city-council-rejects-raising-police-officer-staffing-cap-for-second-time/
I’m just asking the question. And…
… “[my] observations should not be read as an endorsement of what the left is selling, which is dangerous totalitarianism that proceeds from a destructive vision of undoing human history and human nature.”
https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/politics-is-the-new-religion/
Lord Burlington, you’re under siege. Protect yourselves and empower your police force to help. Take your neighborhoods back. You city counsel just voted to limit policing. 3rd Ward, it looks like you may be offered some help at this special election next Tuesday (8/17) — what do your candidates have to say about policing and safe neighborhoods?