Thursday, January 26, 2017
But they may be disproportionately targeting minorities, it says.
In 2016, 21 percent of arrestees were not white, and 24 percent of the people that police used force against were not white.
Those figures have held relatively steady since 2012, according to the report. Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said the gap is "relatively small," and "may not be statistically significant."
But department officials acknowledge one worrisome statistic: Nonwhites in Burlington were 37 percent more likely to have a firearm pointed at them than whites, according to the department's analysis of six years worth of data documenting when officers use or threaten to use force.
Tags: Burlington police , use of force , law enforcement , bias , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 20, 2017
George, 33, of Monkton, has been working since she was in graduate school as a waitress at the tony Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee, near where her parents live.
In 2013, George testified before a legislative committee that she needed the waitressing job to make ends meet. She told lawmakers that she earned more working part-time at Simon Pearce than the $42,490 she made as a deputy state’s attorney. She was speaking on behalf of an effort to unionize deputy state's attorneys.
Gov. Phil Scott swore George in as Chittenden County state’s attorney at noon Friday before a large gathering of family, colleagues and legislators who were ignoring the simultaneous presidential inauguration.
Scott appointed George after T.J. Donovan left the job to become Vermont’s attorney general in January. George had worked in Donovan’s office since 2011, her salary climbing to $59,509 last year.
The new title comes with a higher salary — Donovan’s was listed at $105,914 last year. So George might not need the Simon Pearce gig to pay the bills. But she said she plans to keep working tables, though perhaps not at the 20-hour-a-weekend pace she has been.
“I certainly won’t have to work there every weekend,” she said, but she noted there’s a payoff beyond the financial.
“I think being a waitress makes me a better lawyer,” she said. “Social skills, people skills and talking to people from all walks of life. I go down there and I meet hundreds of people on weekends who are coming from all over the country.”
George said she plans to run for the office when her term is up in 2018. She acknowledged that living in Monkton she’s not a resident of Chittenden County, which is not required for the job, but she said she’s shopping for land there.
Either way, it’s about an hour and half drive to Quechee.
Tags: Sarah George , T.J. Donovan , Phil Scott , Simon Pearce , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 19, 2017
“I view the position of State’s Attorney to be a non-partisan role, best filled by someone with a strong moral compass,” George, who has served as a deputy prosecutor since 2011, said in a prepared statement. “That is how I will approach this position, as I work to speak for — and fight on behalf of — victims and the community.”
George replaces former Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan, who won election as Attorney General in November. George will serve the remaining two years of Donovan’s four year term. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and Vermont Law School.
Tags: Sarah George , Phil Scott , Bram Kranichfeld , Chittenden County State's Attorney , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
“I may seem disruptive ... but it feels like once again you are oppressing your community and not allowing us to have a voice in the process,” argued Mark Hughes, cofounder of the racial justice organization Justice For All, from the seats of Burlington City Hall Auditorium.
City Council President Jane Knodell struggled to quiet the crowd of about 20 as audience members raised their voices to argue that the new policy proposal hadn’t included enough input from stakeholders and the public.
“This is the just the beginning of the process,” Knodell responded to Hughes as the crowd yelled out dissent. “We can have a whole meeting of public forum on this topic.”
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Eileen Blackwood , Jane Knodell , Dave Hartnett , Joan Shannon , Jay Diaz , Burlington City Council , burlington police , sanctuary city , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 9, 2017
The investigation, which examined 2015 data from 29 police agencies covering 78 percent of Vermont’s population, found significant disparities in how often blacks and Hispanics are stopped, searched and arrested, as compared to whites and Asians.
Professor Stephanie Seguino said her study, the first to examine statewide police data, provided proof that police officers throughout the state engage in implicit bias against minorities.
“My sense is a good deal of these disparities is due to implicit bias,” Seguino said.
Tags: traffic stop data , police , racism , Stephanie Seguino , Ingrid Jonas , University of Vermont , racial profiling , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
The recipients were culled from a group of about 450 people who submitted applications after Shumlin announced in December that he would consider such pardons before he leaves office on Thursday.
Shumlin has advocated for marijuana legalization and in 2013 signed a law that decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , pardon , Peter Shumlin , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Monday, January 2, 2017
Nicholas Cusson-Ducharme had been reported missing around 6 p.m. Saturday. Police said he was last seen early Saturday morning in downtown Burlington. He was reportedly intoxicated and had become separated from his friends, police said in a press release.
Authorities began searching for Cusson-Ducharme on Saturday night but could not find him.
Tags: Burlington , police , Winooski , Intervale Road , Nicholas Cusson-Ducharme , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Authorities ticketed seven commercial drivers who headed into the Notch after July 1 — the date the fines went into effect.
Tractor-trailers and buses have long been prohibited from the Notch, but the new law imposes a stiff financial penalty, said Col. William Elovirta, the enforcement and safety division director at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Six drivers were ticketed for “impeding the flow of traffic” by getting stuck in the Notch, a section of Route 108. That offense carries a fine of $2,347. Authorities issued another ticket, for $1,197, to a driver who violated the commercial vehicle ban for the windy, two-lane mountain pass that connects Stowe and Jeffersonville.
Four drivers were convicted, one case was dismissed and two other cases are pending, according to Joanne Charbonneau, the interim clerk at the Vermont Judicial Bureau.
Tags: Smugglers' Notch , Route 108 , William Elovirta , Image , Web Only
Elmes was a Lyndonville selectman when five Vermont state troopers swooped in — along with a helicopter — and busted him at home, apparently after spotting plants from the air, he said. The news media covered his arrest, and Elmes eventually stepped down from office.
A licensed financial adviser, he had to notify federal financial regulators. As recently as a few weeks ago, Elmes said, Canadian border authorities grilled him about the arrest for several minutes.
“You can’t imagine what a burden on anyone’s life this kind of thing is,” Elmes, 66, said. “It’s with you forever. The trauma of the whole thing was ridiculous.”
Elmes is one of more than 330 people so far who have taken Gov. Peter Shumlin up on his offer to pardon people convicted of marijuana possession in his final days in office. The governor said he will consider pardoning people convicted of possessing one ounce of marijuana or less if they don’t have convictions for violence or felonies. Shumlin’s administration estimates several thousand people could meet the criteria.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , pardons , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Image , Video , Web Only
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Puff, puff — poof.
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to make your pot conviction go up in smoke.
The outgoing Democrat will consider pardoning people convicted of possessing up to one ounce of marijuana, given applicants don’t have violent convictions in Vermont or a felony record.
Applications can be submitted online beginning Thursday and will be accepted through December 25 — Christmas. Shumlin leaves office shortly after that; Republican Phil Scott will succeed him.
There’s no guarantee of a pardon, the governor’s office said in a statement announcing the policy.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , pardons , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only