State Headliners: No guns for cops on patrol, Burlington city councilor suggests

By Guy Page

A Burlington city councilor suggested at a recent city council meeting that Burlington police not carry guns while on routine patrol and in the performance of other routine duties.

Police officers would be allowed to use firearms where an active shooter is involved, Progressive Perri Freeman said. No action has been taken on her suggestion, but Freeman has been appointed to a city commission on police policies that she helped establish. A member of the Burlington police officers’ union told WPTZ that police officers can’t be sent into situations where a perpetrator may be armed.

The August 15 WPTZ report is so far the only local coverage on Freeman’s statement to appear on a Google search or review of local media websites.  On Aug. 16 Freeman discussed the interview and coverage on her City Council Facebook Page:

In Burlington, we have had numerous incidences over the last years that have called into question our police department’s use of force and firearm use.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned that some countries do not require their police on regular duty to carry firearms: including the UK, New Zealand, and Iceland. Of these countries, Iceland stood out. Unlike the UK and New Zealand, Iceland has a high rate of gun ownership– on par with Vermont. Yet their law enforcement officers do not carry firearms and have shot and killed one person in 72 years. In Burlington, two people were shot and killed by police in the last six years.

Iceland utilizes a policing philosophy based on a culture of consent, respect and trust. In the US, firearms as a regular policing tool can enable a policing philosophy built on violence and forced compliance. These kind of cultural shifts often don’t happen overnight– I am thankful for the opportunity to be part of these conversations and work toward solutions.”

Her explanation inspired some candid responses from Facebook readers, including Kyle Albee: “How about riding around with the BPD and actually learning what they deal with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – rather than judging them from your couch.”

Perri for City Council website

Progressive Perri Freeman, Burlington City Council – Central District

Freeman was elected to the City Council this March after moving to Vermont in 2017. The community organizer represents the “Center City,” an area that includes the Old North End. After being sworn in on April 1, she began drafting a police violence resolution, which passed the City Council on June 3, she said on her Facebook page. Since then, she has been instrumental in establishing a Special Committee on Policing Policies. She and fellow councilor Joan Shannon were appointed July 15 to represent the city council on that commission.

The City Council in June rejected a proposal by Freeman and two other Progressive councilors to “cap the size of the police force at current levels and work toward reducing the number of officers over time,” WPTZ reported June 4.“The money saved would be used to hire more social workers and other social service providers.”

Also, Freeman and one other Progressive voted (unsuccessfully) against the reappointment of Police Chief Brandon Del Pozo. Del Pozo has been on family and medical leave since early this month. It is not known when or if he will return.

Her Facebook biography reads: “Perri Freeman is a community organizer and home health care provider. Freeman began organizing around community and environmental issues in 2013 while studying History at Antioch College and brought her commitment to justice and movement building to Vermont in early 2017. In Burlington, she is known among political activists for her work leading Rights & Democracy’s successful canvass to elect Rep. Bob Hooper in 2018 to the Vermont State House. She also serves as a Steering Committee member for the Ward 2 & 3 Neighborhood Planning Assembly and volunteers with various local projects and organizations.”

Statehouse Headliners is intended primarily to educate, not advocate. It is e-mailed to an ever-growing list of interested Vermonters, public officials and media. Guy Page is affiliated with the Vermont Energy Partnership; the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare; and Physicians, Families and Friends for a Better Vermont.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/KevinB and Perri for City Council website

25 thoughts on “State Headliners: No guns for cops on patrol, Burlington city councilor suggests

  1. Vermont has become Liberally Insane.
    I moved up here 15yrs ago from outside NYC.
    I have never tried to change a thing.
    This state has regressed in the past 15yrs, it’s a sorry state of affairs down here in Southern Vermont, people are leaving in droves.
    It’s people like this and Bernie who have destroyed this state.
    Our house is for sale and were moving to a more conservative state were people work and dont live off the people who do work.
    We dont go to Burlington anymore, to much Liberal nonsense up there!!

  2. This idiot and her fellow city councilors need to get in uniform, with an assignment to a challenging beat, sworn in to respond, be mandated to intervene as 1st responder during the most active shifts, including weekends and full moons for a period of 2-3 months.

    If her suggestion prevails, ALL law enforcement personnel should either quit abruptly or strike, leaving the asinine voters to live with the consequences of their support for people who think the way she does.

    People need to open their eyes and stop voting these clowns into local, state, and federal government. Stop the insanity.

  3. Another Social JUST US Warrior moved to Burlington, VT. Bringing her Radical Leftist Agenda with her and gets elected to the City Council.. She has NOT Background in Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, or Law Enforcement in general and gets appointed to the Committee dealing with Police Policy, Another Carpet Bagger No Nothing Liberal who moved to Vermont from out of State,, no where in the article does it mention where she moved from. Vermont and Burlington in General doesn’t need another Bernie Sanders Type Socilist Dictating to the Vermont Citizens what is Good For Them, Especially when they have no life experience in the City and State they moved to dealing with Community Problems. Old Time Vermonters Are Damn Tired of having Outsiders come in, run for office, and get elected then propose and write Laws and Regulations that Mess Up the Culture and Community Landscape of Vermont.

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  4. What the actual HELL are these morons thinking? Disarming our law enforcement!? Again demorat anti 2A scumbags punishing law abiding citizens, and catering to criminals.

  5. I suggest that this woman turn herself in for an immediate and comprehensive mental illness examination.

    Maybe she would like to put on a uniform and a badge and assume the responsibilities of a police officer.

  6. So this is the gal that just moved to Vermont, this is a classic example of how astro turf organizations are literally importing Now Prssc (new world order, progressive,rino, sjw, socialist,communists) to run our state, it’s been happening for decades. It’s not an accident,it’s planned and orchestrated. How do you think we got Bernie?

    We used to get People with American ideals to run for office when our educational system educated our children in civics, American history, when people,understood the basic foundation of western civilization, and science but now we teach protesting at school and summer camp, intersectionality and sexuality. We’ve become a farm team for communists instead of Americans.

  7. I’ve got an idea. When unarmed police face a bad guy shooting up the place, all they have to do is call Ms. Freeman and politely request that if she has some spare time that she stop bye and chat with the individual and if he or she agree to stop shooting for a while invited the individual to chat over a cup of coffee. This ideaof police patrolling unarmed is insane and just one more example of too many flat landers coming to Vermont with stupid ideas. I used to think this kind of thinking while misguided was well meaning. Now I’m convinced thse folks are on a mission to destroy all the values true Vermonters held dear.

  8. The method to her madness. Let unarmed police officers go into a situation where they get shot and killed. She would then indicate that if the public did not have firearms, killings like this would never happen, so, let’s disarm the public. It sounds like this woman would have NO problem sacrificing the life of SOMEONE ELSE to accomplish her liberal, and might I say, insane agenda. Hey Perri, let me help you out, which way did you come in?

  9. Somebody !!!, Quick pull this morons head out of her butt before she suffocates. If this stupid person ever makes this happen I hope every police officer walks off the job.

  10. Take a lesson from Seattle. They are losing law enforcement rapidly and cannot recruit. #1 reason given for leaving is “lack of support from city council”.

  11. Let me get this straight – she just moved here and is suddenly a law enforcement expert in VT? What’s the response time when an officer has to retrieve his firearm in an active situation vs having it at the ready? What’s that officer’s defense when he is outnumbered at a vehicle stop or arriving at a large scene and is alone? She seems very smug and ignorant for someone wanting to play with laws and lives.

  12. The first word that came to my mind was “idiot”! But a previous submitter already used that operative word. We see far left ideology prevalent in the Queen city. The legislature is full of these self serving hypocritical nuts. To them Vermonters are hicks, uneducated, and certainly not worldly or capable of managing their own lives. But, what we do know is the need to obey the rules, earn a living, be a good citizen and to not constantly force our extreme views on everyone else.
    It is high time that miscreants in this society learn that breaking the law, in any form, has consequences. Do we want the NYC B.S. here where people are throwing buckets of “something” on our police officers? Do we want them (BTV police officers) to be like Portland and Seattle where ANTIFA, a domestic terrorist group, controls the streets and the politics?
    I am always amazed that people move to Vermont for the quality of life and low crime and then want to change it to what they left in NYC, Boston, etc. If real Vermonters want a life like that we would have moved there years ago.

    This person doesn’t even deserve further consideration for her warped ideas.

    Can you imagine her response if she were being attacked on Church street and the first cop on the scene tells her he can’t put a stop to the attack as he isn’t armed and can’t force compliance to his order to the perpetrator to drop his knife and to get on the ground. He says he needs to go to the police station to get a gun. I bet she would change her tune then, if she lives through the attack!

  13. Illogical nonsense from this councilor. We live in an evil world otherwise we would not need laws and police to enforce them.

  14. What’s worse is the fact that people vote for idiots like this. She moved to Vermont in 2017 and now has her heart set on fixing everything these progressives have done to Vermont not realizing that they are the problem. The truth is Vermont was a nice, safe place to live before all these carpetbaggers found Vermont to use as their stepping stone to fame. We even have the diversity of urban drag dealing, welfare fraud and an increase in crime all brought in from out of state. I blame the mindless people who believe and vote for the empty promises that these progs run on. We have one more year until the next Vermont election rolls around. Vermonters and those who moved here to enjoy our state without trying to change it into the cesspool they left must rally and vote these people out of office. No more progs makes a great bumper sticker along side Legalize freedom by voting American. These people are anti-American!

    • Dano

      You sir nailed it ,the regressiveness of progressiveism,take one step forward and they want to take three steps backwards. Whats the saying about doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result,oh yes,that’s the mental disorder known as Leftardism.

  15. All of Burlington’s City Council need to do a ride-along with the Burlington Police Staff, try
    the Midnight – 7:00 AM shift …………… you can tell this snowflake doesn’t have a clue !!

    She mentions that Firearm use is up by Police YES, with all the homeless, crazies and the
    overabundance of drugs and throw in a little domestic violence, my God what rock has she
    been under……. Liberals Cop Haters…….

    I’ve lived in Burlington for over 68 Years, I glad we have the Police we have, and in today’s
    environment, this is the most absurd thing that I have ever heard ” Disarming ” our men &
    women in blue …………

    What a disgusting proposal !!

  16. That is the dumbest thing ive heard this year!!!!! I’m sure criminals would love that!!!! Where do these people come from?

  17. I like it – disarm all the police in Burlington. Then they’ll all quit and move to normal cities, leaving the City Council wondering why crime is increasing and revenue is decreasing.

  18. The delusional Left are in most cases as or more dangerous than the criminal element because of the situations they foment.
    Perhaps the city consoler will respond to domestic calls,yeah right.

  19. My mother said “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything”………………………………..damn! Sorry Mom, but this woman is about as dumb as they come and about as useless as a rubber crutch! Where do these wackos come from and why do they continue to migrate to Vermont? Finally, who the hell are the numbskulls who are voting for these nuts?

    • Students are voting for them – just as they did when they elected ‘Bernie the Commune Reject’ 40 years ago.

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