Friday, April 8, 2016
The fact that Taser shots failed to subdue a mentally ill man who was subsequently fatally shot by police has caused his department to “reevaluate the trust we place in the instrument,” del Pozo said during an interview Wednesday.
Nationwide, departments have stocked up on these stun guns, which are touted as a way to avoid drawing an actual gun. As part of a reform package announced after Chicago police shot and killed Laquan McDonald, Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently ordered nearly 800 of them.
Tasers work in two different ways. From a distance, they can shoot barbs into people, which have wires that attach to the device. With this method, an electric shock temporarily makes people lose muscular control. Tasers can also be applied directly to people’s skin, incapacitating them simply by causing intense pain.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Burlington Police Department , Taser , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
VTrans says it will show the tally throughout the state every Wednesday in an effort to encourage safe driving. The agency is modeling the program on similar initiatives in Tennessee and Colorado. Boards were set up in Waterbury, Milton, Richmond and other locations.
Thirteen people have died in Vermont highway accidents this year, and 57 died in 2015.
VTrans also created a new application for exploring detailed information about the locations and causes of Vermont highway crashes.
“Most highway deaths are preventable and can clearly be connected with driver behavior,” said VTrans chief engineer Kevin Marshia. “Speed, distraction, remembering to wear seat belts, and not driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol are all things that drivers can control, and we hope that this sobering reminder will help everyone become more aware of the consequences of these behaviors.”
Tags: Vermont Agency of Transportation , fatality , highway , Kevin Marshia , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
House Judiciary Committee chair Maxine Grad (D-Moretown) said she can’t envision a majority of her 11-member committee voting for the legalization bill that the Senate passed in February, which would allow the sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2018. House leaders have been clear that the legislation faces tougher going in the House than it did in the Senate, where it passed 17-12.
“I don’t know how far people can go,” Grad said Tuesday.
“You think you can get six votes out of our committee for that? I don’t know,” committee vice chair Willem Jewett (D-Ripton) said Tuesday.
Tags: Cannabeat , Marijuana legalization , Maxine Grad , Shap Smith , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Monday, April 4, 2016
The Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board warned in a press release Monday morning that the state Department of Public Safety plans to cease answering 911 calls at its two public safety answering points as of July 1, 2017.
“Ridiculous,” said Administration Secretary Justin Johnson. “No decision has been made around that.”
But it does appear that the state has been considering getting out of the call-taking business, a move that’s drawing concern from the 911 board and the state employees’ union.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Justin Johnson , Joe Flynn , Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board , Gary Taylor , Barb Neal , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
A Burlington police officer fatally shot a distraught 76-year-old man after a lengthy standoff at his College Street apartment on Monday night, authorities said.
Burlington police, who were summoned to the apartment by a mental crisis worker, tried for five hours to negotiate with Ralph “Phil” Grenon, Vermont State Police said. Around 10 p.m., Grenon approached officers with two knives in his hands and refused to drop them, Vermont State Police said. Officer David Bowers, 23, fired multiple shots at Grenon, who was pronounced dead at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Bowers, who joined the department in 2014, was placed on paid administrative leave, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Grenon had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was involuntarily medicated in the former Vermont State Hospital several years ago after refusing treatment, according to court records.
Tags: Burlington police , Brandon del Pozo , Vermont State Police , mental health , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Both sides made their cases in front of the Burlington City Council’s Public Safety Committee Monday night. The committee reviewed but did not vote on a proposed memorandum of understanding between city police and Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security .
One of the first things Brandon del Pozo did upon becoming Burlington’s police chief last September was sever ties with a controversial U.S. Department of Defense program that furnishes local police departments with surplus military equipment.
But Chief del Pozo is less willing to part ways with Homeland Security, whose resources, he argued, are important to the BPD’s human trafficking and narcotics investigations. When local investigations cross state lines, it’s helpful to have relationships with federal agents in those locations, he explained.
Tags: Burlington Police Department , Homeland Security , Brandon del Pozo , Migrant Justice , Vermont ACLU , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 29, 2016
Gilbert, a mild-mannered former newspaper reporter, has become Vermont's leading advocate for civil liberties and privacy. He is a frequent presence in the Statehouse, where he often squares off against law enforcement, and a go-to guy for quotes for members of the media.
“It’s not enough to be outraged by an action taken by the government that you think is unfair or even unconstitutional,” Gilbert told Seven Days in a 2013 profile. “You have to be able to take that outrage and win your point, whether it be by legislation or litigation.”
Tags: Allen Gilbert , ACLU , police , law enforcement , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 12, 2016
The Vermont Supreme Court on Friday threw out the conviction of an African American man who said the traffic stop that led to his 10-year prison sentence was the result of racial profiling.
Shamel Alexander, a first-time offender whom Seven Days wrote about in November, was found with 11 grams of heroin — $1,400 worth — after police pulled over a taxi cab he took from New York to Bennington in 2013.
Despite Alexander's lack of a record, a supportive family and a finding by prison officials that he was a low risk to reoffend, Bennington Superior Court Judge Nancy Corsones sentenced him to 10 years. During the sentencing hearing, Corsones warned of the dangers of drug dealers from "Brooklyn and Bed-Stuy." One Supreme Court justice described that rhetoric as potential racial "dog-whistle code words" during oral arguments in November.
Alexander's attorneys argued that police had no basis for interrogating Alexander, now 27, after they pulled over the cab. Police justified the stop by saying an informant told them a large African American man named "Sizzle" was coming to the area to sell drugs. (Alexander was not "Sizzle.") They also said the fact that Alexander was arriving via taxi from New York was suspicious.
The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Alexander.
Tags: Bennington , drugs , heroin , Opioid Crisis , Shamel Alexander , Vermont Supreme Court , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 11, 2016
“We have no objection to finding a way to fill the beds,” she said. But she added that filling beds would likely require a change in law governing the type of offenders allowed at the facility. The camp has operated in St. Johnsbury since 1993.
The budget that Gov. Peter Shumlin presented to the legislature in January calls for closing the work camp, which would eliminate 22 jobs and save $1 million. Closure of the camp reduces state spending by $2.5 million, but finding prison beds for the 50 offenders now there would add to the number of prisoners confined in out-of-state facilities — which would cost the state an additional $1.5 million.
Tags: Lisa Menard , Department of Corrections , St. Johnsbury , Sen. Dick Sears , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
The committee is working on a bill that would create an enhanced penalty when people in the family services division of DCF are assaulted, and would also establish a new offense — criminal threatening.
“I personally have been threatened to be killed,” said Patricia Casanova, who has worked at DCF for a dozen years. And she said she had found people waiting at her car for her.
Casanova and two other state workers urged the committee to expand the proposed enhanced penalty to cover all state workers. Margaret Crowley, chair of the Vermont State Employees' Association’s legislative committee, said people under stress because of government actions often lash out at the first state worker they run into.
Crowley recounted how a man threatened her when she handed him paperwork concerning his court case. He called her “a cog in the machine” that had wronged him.
Tags: Sen. Dick Sears , Vermont State Employees' Association , Lara Sobel , DCF , Image , Web Only