The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Burlington Police Department will be working together in an effort to curb rising gun violence in the Queen City through the creation of the Chittenden County Gun Violence Task Force.
The idea behind administering suboxone to inmates to prevent withdrawal from heroin seemed sensible, but has turned into a ghastly slippery slope in which inmates entering Vermont’s prisons system free of opioid addiction exit them addicted.
Last week, the pro-police advocacy group Keep Vermont Safe held an event to highlight some of the biggest hurdles to restoring public safety in Burlington amid rising crime owed largely to the “defund the police” movement.
According to a legal agreement between Travis Trybulski and the State of Vermont, the incident involved his decision to stop and search for drugs (with the owner’s approval) a car with New York license plates. The decertification vote, which bars Trybulski from working as a cop in Vermont, was nearly unanimous.
Three people have been murdered by gunfire in Burlington this year. All three deaths reflect longtime, ongoing social problems common not only Burlington but all of Vermont and the U.S.
Burlington’s 23rd gunfire incident of the year occurred over the holiday weekend shortly after midnight on Sunday morning — it was a homicide, right in City Hall Park.
Speakers include Michael Hall, executive director Vermont Police Coalition; Brady Toensing, former senior counsel United States Department of Justice; and Christina Nolan, former United States Attorney for the District of Vermont.
The Council on Criminal Justice reports the homicide rate is 39% higher in 29 American cities than during the first half of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council also reported increases in aggravated assaults (+4%) and robberies (+19%), residential burglaries (+6%), and motor vehicle thefts (+15%) all increased in the first half of 2022.
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad gave his monthly report at Tuesday evening’s Police Commission meeting, and once again he discussed trying to run the department effectively amid staff depletion and rising crime.
In an appearance on “The Morning Drive” radio program Wednesday, Gov. Phil Scott addressed a series of topics ranging from rising crime and homelessness to the results of last week’s primary election.
Governor Phil Scott today issued his 10-point public safety enhancement and violence prevention action plan, laying out the framework of a comprehensive response to address violent crime and other public safety concerns across the state.
“The suspect in this case has now had more than 100 police involvements,” said acting Chief of Police Jon Murad. “Even before this morning’s spate of vandalisms, he had accumulated more than a dozen police involvements since June 1st, more than half of which involved arrest or referrals to alternative justice.”