As climate change-related protests continue to take place with increasing regularity, law enforcement officials find themselves struggling over how best to maintain order and traffic flow amid mass disruptions.
Despite reports that a white nationalist group recently placed posters in a few cities and towns in Vermont, law enforcement officials haven’t seen or been able to identify any of the group’s supposed members.
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.
The latest release of police body camera footage appears to benefit the officer who got into a physical confrontation with a local man who died days later.
While a new committee is being formed to review policies in response to accusations of police brutality, statistics from the Burlington Police Department show that very few police interactions involve a use of force, and only a handful of those require a review.
The chair of the Burlington Police Commission who will appoint two commissioners to a new committee on policing practices hasn’t ruled out any of the three African Americans put on the police commission earlier this week by city councilors.
As accusations of police brutality continue to grip the city, one Progressive city councilor says existing police policy is mostly solid as is, but he still supports a review by a special committee.
“The decision was made in apparent response to the protests by a group called Justice For Palestine, who reflexively oppose anything connected to Israel and wish to persuade the world to boycott … the only post Holocaust true Jewish sanctuary in the entire world.”
Since its release in January, the traffic stop study “Driving While Black and Brown in Vermont” has been a blot on the reputation of state and local law enforcement. Now local police and at least one crime research expert are casting doubts on the report’s data and findings.
Policing policy took on new urgency as the nation’s progressive mayors gathered in the Queen City on Friday following race-related riots last week in Charlottesville, Virginia.