As the Burlington Police Department mulls cutting its night shift, leaving residents to seek out state police during late hours, the head of the Vermont Police Coalition says City Council was too hasty in its decision to cut police personnel earlier in the year.
In the wake of national protests calling to defund the police following the murder of George Floyd, Hinesburg will increase the town police budget, with the selectboard voting to hire another full-time police officer using town funds and a federal grant.
The Vermont Department of Public Safety wants public feedback on its plan to “modernize policing across Vermont” by centralizing under state control policies for diversity hiring, policies for use of force and body cameras, banning invasive surveillance, and more.
The Vermont State Police have begun wearing body cameras in day-to-day interactions with the public, as the technology is known to benefit both the public and officers while documenting physical altercations.
The order calls for requiring body cameras for state police and mandates training for police officers on bias, racial profiling and de-escalation tactics. It also calls for improving records on police misconduct and creates a new unit within the state Department of Justice.
Police dogs in recent, separate incidents on both sides of Vermont helped apprehend out-of-staters with illegal drug connections who were fleeing human police, police say.
Gov. Phil Scott allowed S.119 to pass without his signature, and at least one police chief says lawmakers didn’t listen to those on the front lines as they crafted new use-of-force policies for police.
Will Addison County choose a deputy sheriff, a former high bailiff, or a pro-legal marijuana lawyer to hold the office empowered to remove and then serve as the county sheriff?
At least three social justice advocates in Vermont are running for high bailiff, an obscure county government position that allows an ordinary civilian to have oversight over the sheriff’s office in certain circumstances.
“Every story we’ve been told for the past three months has been, at its core, a lie — all of them, from the first day.”
As the spotlight increasingly falls on police behavior and procedures nationwide in the aftermath of several high-profile deaths this year, New Hampshire departments have increasingly sought training in de-escalation techniques.
Two police union executives said that in order to curb rioting, looting and mass violence, officers must be proactive, can’t hesitate to make arrests and must employ overwhelming force or the unrest will fester.