2026-10-27 - Police Commission

00:00this meeting of the Burlington Police

00:01Commission. I'm Michaela Fineran. I'm

00:03the chair of the commission. We will

00:05start with roll call and determination

00:06of quorum. Commissioner Jorio

00:10>> here. Commissioner Paul

00:13>> uh here.

00:14>> Commissioner von Herman

00:17>> and Commissioners Fast Deer and

00:19Cummifford are absent. We have a quorum.

00:22I will note for the record that we are

00:24losing our quorum at 7:00. So we are

00:26going to try to get through our agenda

00:28quickly. Um, next item is the agenda. I

00:32would like to move to remove the annual

00:35report from the agenda and add it to

00:37next month's meeting given our numbers

00:38tonight and our time constraint.

00:41Is there a second?

00:43>> Can I make a comment?

00:44>> We discuss after the second.

00:46>> Second.

00:47>> Yes. Thank you.

00:48>> Um, my comment is that I would like to

00:50make sure that we have our planned

00:53meeting next month and that we vote on

00:55this item next month.

00:56>> Great. Any other comments?

01:01Um, all those in favor?

01:04>> I

01:04>> I

01:05>> I

01:06>> I

01:08>> Commissioner Paul,

01:11>> uh, I

01:13>> thank you. Okay, the agenda is amended.

01:17Is there a motion to adopt the agenda?

01:21>> So moved.

01:22>> I second. All those in favor?

01:24>> I

01:25>> I

01:25>> I. Any opposed? The adoption. The agenda

01:29is adopted. I louder than usual. Okay.

01:35Um, next up on our agenda is the minutes

01:37from our previous month. Is there a

01:39motion to approve the previous month's

01:40minutes?

01:42>> So moved.

01:43>> Move that.

01:44>> Great. Uh, all those in favor say I.

01:47>> I.

01:47>> I. Any opposed? The eyes carry. The

01:51previous month's minutes are adopted.

01:54Next up, we have public comment. I don't

01:56think we have anyone in person. Do we

01:58have anyone online who would like to be

02:00heard during public comment?

02:04>> No one online.

02:05>> Great. Thank you. Okay. Next, we have

02:09police department business. So, Chief, I

02:11will turn it over to you.

02:13>> Thank you.

02:15Through the exercise here, sharing my

02:16screen, I hope.

02:36All right. So, as found in the packet,

02:37we have our standard monthly data report

02:39that I use both with the public safety

02:41committee and with the police

02:43commission. The first graph is just

02:44topline incident response data for the

02:47entire organization and it's uh you know

02:49shows the last four years. The next

02:52chart is our staffing which is really of

02:56great deal of concern on the sworn side

02:58of the house. So this shows here on the

03:01chart where we have 55 sworn officers in

03:04total. There's 44 of us currently that

03:07are serviceable. when you remove folks

03:10that are in places like the Vermont

03:12Police Academy training, one officer in

03:14field training, uh, one officer remains

03:17on long-term military leave, two on

03:19administrative leave, and then injuries.

03:22So, uh, the team has been working really

03:24hard, short staffed, especially in the

03:27month of August, which was a tough month

03:29here for the community. Moving along,

03:32this next graph graph is uh one that we

03:37were showing about uh the number of

03:39calls that were remaining stacked in the

03:41dispatch center. We realized that that

03:44require that process requires the

03:46dispatcher to actually change the status

03:47within our records management system and

03:49there may be some human error in that.

03:51So what Jeff has done here is gone back

03:54through and mapped out calls that uh

03:57took us an hour or more to respond to.

04:00And you'll see that that rate was uh

04:03much more dramatic in 2024. And then

04:06against our staffing odds through 25 and

04:0926, we're being much more timely in our

04:12responses to incidents.

04:16Next graph is our our patrols here. The

04:19red line being 2026. This is foot and

04:22directed patrols by all members. So CSL,

04:25CSOS, and sworn officers were down this

04:27year. in that I attribute to our lack of

04:30personnel for assignment, but we're

04:32still uh at or above those same efforts

04:36that were a foot, no pun intended, in 23

04:38and 24.

04:42The next three graphs are the incident

04:45most common incident types for CSOS,

04:48CSLs, and sworn officers. Again, August

04:52uh was a busy month when you look back

04:54over the 12-month trends, but really

04:56nothing out of the norm here that uh I

04:59need to to call out. I just always like

05:01to raise the issue that is effectively

05:04that as we're using our CSOS and CSLs,

05:08of course, there's a limit to what

05:10professional staff can actually attend

05:12to. And a bulk of our work still falls

05:15upon our sworn officers to attend to.

05:17And when you think about um our our

05:20available officers, particularly in

05:21Uniform Service Bureau, it's only about

05:2320 officers to cover 24 hours a day,

05:26seven days a week. They're working

05:27extraordinarily hard.

05:31Moving along here, uh we've been the

05:34police department's had to be very

05:35responsive to conditions in and around

05:38City Hall Park and downtown in general.

05:40uh in in response to uh you know the the

05:43resolution that is being debated now

05:46greater call for presence and

05:49enforcement in the downtown area. This

05:52graph shows incidents in which we're

05:54responding to city hall park. So

05:56extracted from this are all proactive

05:59incidents u outreach foot patrols

06:02directed patrols. These are really calls

06:04from the public into the police

06:06department. And you'll see that although

06:072026 has been uh busy in that regard, it

06:11has not been as busy as it was in 2025.

06:14That's not to say that the conditions

06:15that folks are experiencing in the

06:17downtown are non-existent or aren't as

06:20to what are being reported. It's just

06:22this is the number of calls that we're

06:24actually receiving from the public.

06:27in a similar fashion because we know

06:29when we do enforcement activity or even

06:32have an impresence in a place like city

06:33hall park, we know that we displace a

06:36lot of behavior because folks don't have

06:37other places to go. So we do map this

06:40same uh or chart the same data for the

06:43ambient area around city hall park which

06:45is essentially one one block out and

06:48you'll see similar trend line here again

06:50uh higher than 2023 and 2024 but not at

06:54the rate at which we were uh being

06:56called into the downtown district by by

06:59members of the public in 2025.

07:05violent incidents. And again, these are

07:07categorized a little bit differently

07:09than on the public data portal. What

07:11we're tracking here are acts of

07:13homicide, attempted homicide, reckless

07:14endangerment, robbery, uh misdemeanor

07:17assault, and felony assault. Um although

07:21we are below the rate of these offenses

07:24which was experienced in 2024 in 25

07:27August was an incredibly violent month

07:29particularly one in one uh weekend I

07:33think it was the morning of August 15th

07:35of uh 2026 was very very challenging and

07:39again worked through uh those incidents

07:42between responding officers and

07:44detectives wrapping up a homicide and an

07:47aggravated assault with a de deadly

07:48weapon with two arrests within in 4 days

07:50is really impressive work.

07:56This chart is uh simply the arrest

07:58number that the BPD has been doing over

08:01the last few years. And you'll see that

08:03despite um what we have been criticized

08:05for not enforcing the law, not being

08:08present, our arrest rate is uh is very

08:11high uh in context of what was going on

08:14in 23 and 24 in maintaining pace with uh

08:18what we were up to in 2025. I attribute

08:21this to a few different things. One is

08:25we see a great deal of non-violent

08:27recidivism in those case those uh folks

08:30oftent times will be on conditions of

08:32release or find themselves on arrest

08:34warrant status for not showing up for

08:36status conferences and those type of

08:38things. So we see um you know those

08:41categories arrest on warrant violation

08:43conditions of release retail theft and

08:46uh unlawful trespass high in this data

08:48set.

08:52drug arrests in response to the

08:54conditions downtown and what the

08:56community uh was calling out. We did

08:59spend uh some time assembling our

09:02detectives under the leadership of our

09:04detective sergeant who runs the the uh

09:07drug unit and did some targeted

09:10enforcement in the area of City Hall

09:12Park and City Hall Park itself. The

09:13numbers speak for themselves. We have

09:15been uh responsive to those conditions

09:18and uh making arrests and appropriate

09:20referrals in those cases.

09:24Tickets remain down. I attribute this

09:26largely because the city circle program

09:29ended July on Saturday on June 30th due

09:32to funding. So that program was

09:34discontinued without a lot of

09:36information being shared with the

09:39stakeholders.

09:40What I can tell you is that once city

09:43circle ceased, our officers immediately

09:46realized that there would ultimately be

09:47no accountability again for these uh

09:50city ordinance tickets. And that is not

09:53really an effective use of their time.

09:54We're still intervening in this

09:56behavior, whether it's, you know, public

09:58uh public consumption of alcohol, public

10:01urination, public drug use, and uh

10:04enforcing the ordinance. But there is

10:06little value in issuing a ticket when a

10:08person doesn't ultimately have to be

10:10responsive to it.

10:15uh top ticket types as I've reported in

10:17previous months largely centered around

10:20trespass issues and that's not

10:22surprising given the number of unhoused

10:24folks living in the downtown and really

10:26nothing remarkable in the trend lines

10:28related to tickets and warnings issued

10:31uh in the downtown area for uh you know

10:34the the affformentioned ordinance

10:36violations that I just discussed.

10:40This population grew a little bit. So um

10:43our impact cohort is 64 people now and

10:47again uh they represent about 19% of our

10:50total incidents year to date. We know uh

10:54quite a bit about uh this deidentified

10:56group. We know that 66% of them are are

10:59unhoused and when we walk through kind

11:02of how they present in our data set this

11:04is pretty logical but troubling that we

11:06don't have a solution for this. So our

11:09top 64 they account for 296 incidents of

11:13trespassund

11:15and over 170 incidents of that are

11:18suspicious in nature. And again I've

11:20I've talked about how nebulous that

11:22bucket is and why people perceive

11:24certain behaviors and report that to the

11:26police ordinance violations. And then

11:29most troubling uh you see here drugs,

11:31retail theft, and mental health issues.

11:33It really speaks to the the issues that

11:36this population is uh struggling with in

11:39a way that I wouldn't say is fully

11:41supported in the community. We do the

11:43best that we can with our community uh

11:45service liaison and our partnership with

11:46the street outreach team, but those are

11:48very short-term interventions and there

11:51is kind of lack of a formal runway to

11:54get folks to a more stable place to find

11:56success. What I also know about this

11:58population is that some of some number

12:00of them are completely service resistant

12:03as well. Um but again we don't have a

12:06very co coherent solution I would say

12:09for a lot of the disorder that people

12:11are uncomfortable with when you think

12:13about areas of city hall park, college

12:14street, the upper block of St. Paul

12:16Street.

12:21Moving along here, this is the top 64

12:23just you know their raw numbers. So the

12:26uh number one here is nearly 90

12:29incidents uh thus far this year. That

12:31person is housed and lives quietly in a

12:33neighboring community and when that

12:35person is in the Burlington area is uh

12:38quite a handful. So it's it's

12:39interesting and you'll see that it

12:42tapered down. Jeff was cutting this off

12:44around 15. He found a flat point with 17

12:47incidents and that's what really led to

12:49having 64 individuals in this particular

12:51set.

12:53What do we do with these folks? You've

12:54seen this one before. This just

12:56illustrates who has been referred to the

12:58situation table, who's in state attorney

13:01George's support court, who's been in

13:03both, and who is in treatment court. We

13:05do need to add the other layer. We know

13:07some number of these folks are under the

13:08supervision of the Department of

13:09Corrections, be it probation or parole.

13:14And then officer workload. I just like

13:15to highlight this again because of where

13:17we are with sworn officer staffing.

13:19median sworn officer respon count

13:21response count by month is uh is nearly

13:25was up at 90 is tapering down just

13:28slightly. That's a lot of work. And then

13:30when we look at this next chart here,

13:32the number of sworn officers who respond

13:34to a hundred or more incidents per month

13:38is was upward of 23. We only have 20

13:42assigned to patrol. And I know that I've

13:44got a handful of detectives that

13:46supplement patrol by working overtime.

13:48And that that amount of work is uh it's

13:51it's a lot. It's really tough to

13:52sustain. Proud of what they're doing,

13:55but I'm very very concerned that if

13:57we're not able to rec recruit new

14:00officers and retain the ones that we

14:02have, how we'll be able to handle all

14:04the work that's expected of the

14:06Burlington Police Department. So, uh

14:08with that, I know it's a bit of a

14:09lightning round, but I wanted to be

14:10efficient. I'm happy to answer any

14:12questions.

14:15>> Questions from commissioners?

14:18um where do you see your role in maybe

14:20changing the expectations of um the work

14:23of BPD such that you don't have an

14:27overwhelming number of calls for

14:29suspicious events?

14:31>> Yeah, that's a great question. I

14:32appreciate it, Commissioner Jorio. My

14:34role was unique, right? I'm here as an

14:36interim and the first charge from the

14:39mayor was to better uh synchronize the

14:41response groups that we had. So there

14:43was no plan as to what a CSL could

14:46potentially respond to, what a street

14:48outreach worker could potentially

14:49respond to absent a police officer. So

14:51we we did that. Uh we set up that

14:53protocol and I believe that that's

14:56functioning well. But like when I

14:59glossed over those three charts that

15:01shows like the by employee category

15:04who's responsible for what we know that

15:07like CSLs are very effective in a lot of

15:10these situations, but depending on

15:13danger acuity, there's still a lot of

15:15work for swarm sworn police officers.

15:17And I know that I'm probably um a little

15:21old school in my thought about what you

15:23need a police officer to go to. and uh

15:26you know maybe through the chief's

15:28process someone will have better ideas

15:31about what police don't necessarily need

15:32to respond to but I'm very very

15:35serviceoriented and I also see a lot of

15:37danger acuity a lot of unknown and I

15:40like the co-response as well so although

15:42we have a police officer and say a CSL

15:45go to an incident if the police officer

15:48can be quickly excused and CSL is safe

15:50to be there I think that's another model

15:52that we're using well but Jeff and I

15:55have talked about like how do we measure

15:56that? And it seems as though we'd have

15:58to like go into the records management

16:00system and determine like how long was

16:02the officer on scene versus the CSL to

16:04measure like how many incidents are

16:06actually going to to the CSL. So I I

16:09think there's some uh work to be done in

16:11that space. I also think that

16:14independent of the police department, we

16:16flag a lot of issues and at the end of

16:18the day, we're a referral agency and I

16:22hope that I've been the correct uh

16:25messenger that we need greater support,

16:27especially in the areas of mental

16:29health. I mean, we're a state without a

16:31forensic facility. We have very

16:33antiquated stat statutory framework

16:35about how we can get someone who's not

16:38inclined to seek care at the med center.

16:40When you think about the statutory

16:42construct and likely the legislative

16:44intent of the time at the time about the

16:48ability for us to bring someone to the

16:50hospital for an emergency evaluation, it

16:52was never contemplated that substance

16:54use disorder could could be a part of

16:56that. It has to be mental health

16:57related. So I think there's a lot of

16:59different systems challenges that would

17:02improve conditions in the community for

17:04this population that we've been talking

17:05a lot about which then the police would

17:08be kind of not even relevant for. Um, so

17:12I, you know, I think there's always new

17:14and creative ways to think about other

17:16issues, but unless we have, uh, new

17:18tools, new partners that are going to do

17:21community- based care and figure out

17:23shelter,

17:25that would just figuring out shelter

17:26alone, when you think about the number

17:28of trespass complaints we go to, that

17:30would be a huge decrease. And I know

17:32that the mayor has been uh a very strong

17:36advocate for the placement of this uh

17:38shelter that CVOE intends to run. I

17:41think you can debate the size and scale

17:44of that. Uh but I say CVEO is the

17:47experts and if they say it's 100 beds,

17:49it needs to be one facility. We should

17:51figure that out.

17:55>> On what page is this?

17:59the the page about situation table and

18:02support court, those charts, the I

18:04assume the people the bars that are

18:06white, those are people that are not

18:07involved in any of these programs.

18:10>> That's correct. What what I do know

18:12about those white bars though is that uh

18:15a number of those folks are uh either on

18:18probation or have a docket, a criminal

18:21docket in in regular court.

18:23>> Okay. Do you think that from a police

18:26perspective is situation table and

18:28support court an effective combination?

18:31>> I think they're different animals

18:33actually. So the uh situation table is

18:36really a shortterm intervention with

18:39someone that's at an elevated risk of

18:41harm to themselves or the community and

18:43the appropriate partners then go out

18:44within 24 to 48 hours and have an

18:47intervention. And you know, Burlington

18:49actually found its way uh on the map

18:51with co with uh the uh situation table

18:55engineers because they're collecting

18:58more granular detail as to the longer

19:01term issues, root causes of the behavior

19:05and maybe can then make situation table

19:09think past that 48 hour period. But it

19:12is a short-term solution. Support court.

19:14I think support court is valuable

19:17especially when uh we have got this this

19:19population on the street. They are

19:22committing nonviolent crimes. So they're

19:24not going to have bail imposed by the by

19:26the court and that's by statute. They're

19:28on the they're on the street. They have

19:30a really they have a lot of problems

19:32running their lives daytoday and it's

19:34easy to forget about a court date 30

19:36days out as opposed to you know that

19:38every Friday I have to go to court. And

19:41then within that program are are of

19:43course our uh social service providers

19:46that are there to help support these

19:49folks while they proceed through the

19:51criminal legal system. I think there

19:53could be probably some greater

19:55accountability there, more meaningful

19:57oversight on that part of support court,

19:59but I'd rather have support in this form

20:02as opposed to not have it.

20:04>> Thank you. Any other questions or

20:06comments?

20:07>> Yeah. Um, you know, I'm looking at it in

20:09a couple of couple of ways. This

20:11situation, just based on your life

20:13career experience as a police officer,

20:18uh, all the way to police chief, do you

20:20think we're asking more of our police

20:22department to do and I I know it's kind

20:25of very loaded question because looking

20:28at the charts, there's so many things

20:29that I notice even when I used to work

20:32at the transit center that the police

20:34will respond to almost all the time.

20:37um where do you see just based on your

20:41experience for the entire time that

20:42you've been doing all this?

20:45>> Yeah. No, I appreciate the question and

20:46I like to sum it up like this. So when

20:49when I was a younger police officer, we

20:51were very inexpensive and we were

20:53plentiful. So we were sent to everything

20:56and police officers to include myself,

20:58we complained about that. But because we

21:00didn't close at 4 p.m. and we were

21:02immediately available, we were the

21:05solution for the community. Now, I think

21:08that we still hold a lot of that

21:09expectation, but we've got certain

21:12conditions here in Burlington post

21:14pandemic that are overwhelming not only

21:18our our ability to provide effective

21:21police services, we're overwhelming our

21:23social service providers. you know, you

21:26don't have to read very far below the

21:28headlines to understand that we've got

21:30more people here than we can serve in

21:32Burlington. And again, like the right

21:35people are talking about how do we

21:37figure this out? But I'm concerned as

21:39we're kind of careening towards winter

21:41here, if we don't have shelter op, you

21:43know, if we don't have shelter capacity

21:45and we're going to have this number of

21:46people living on the street upwards of

21:48300, what's that going to mean for

21:50places like our emergency department and

21:52others? are know our trespass rates are

21:54going to go up and uh it doesn't put the

21:57police department in a great spot when

21:59we're moving people that are trespassing

22:01but they have nowhere to go.

22:05>> Thanks Chief. Anything else?

22:07>> Yeah, so if I can just follow up. Thank

22:10you for your very thoughtful answer to

22:12my question. I guess perhaps I'm

22:15wondering if there's something you see

22:16in

22:18um the role of the chief of BPD yourself

22:21or um your replacement soon to come um

22:26or our role as police commissioners in

22:29educating the public about I know that

22:33you know the mayor's administration has

22:35tried to do a lot of work about

22:36educating people of can they put in a

22:40ticket on cclick fix can they all parks

22:43and wreck for for situations that they

22:45have when when somebody sees some

22:47needles on the ground. A lot of

22:48Burlingtononians will pick them up and

22:50throw them away and that's it. Some

22:52people will make a note for some other

22:54agency because they don't have time. And

22:56some people will call the police. And

22:58I'm unsure how it works in dispatch on

23:00your end when somebody calls and they're

23:02like, "That's not a crime." And I I

23:04don't know if because of your extensive

23:07um work experience, as you said, when

23:11policing was different than it is now

23:13and you had fewer and different

23:15expectations than you do now, that you

23:17went to everything. If that has sort of

23:19evolved and that there is some education

23:22on your end to telling people that you

23:24will not respond and not from any place

23:26of malice or that you don't want to but

23:30because it's just simply not the correct

23:32response or if you think that that is

23:34something perhaps we could do if you

23:36think there's another organization that

23:38you think could do that work.

23:41No, that's a that's a great followup.

23:43And I think, you know, we do a better

23:45job of screening those uh those calls

23:48out. I think the uh the communication

23:52um

23:54plan that the mayor put out, I you know,

23:56it's it's like a one pager of who to

23:58call for what. I think that's been very

24:00very effective. I think particularly

24:02residents know when the UC cick fix,

24:05when to call the CSO line as opposed to

24:08when to call the police department. So I

24:10don't necessarily see that as the

24:12challenge. What I do see as the

24:13challenge are of um leading to like

24:17repeat calls are the conditions downtown

24:20where we have maybe someone was living

24:22on College Street. We make some efforts

24:25to address College Street. We know they

24:27displace those folks and just by way of

24:29example now we've got some uh some

24:32friction points on Cherry Street. So

24:34without, you know, a a solution there,

24:37which it's not incumbent on the police

24:39department to figure out the a shelter,

24:41a daytime shelter or a nighttime

24:43shelter, you know, the there's

24:45frustration that comes from the

24:47community, which leads to increased

24:48calls and then increased narrative about

24:51why are you not enforcing the laws? Why,

24:53you know, these these things that aren't

24:56necessarily ripe for arrest, referral,

24:59we're not going to solve it that way.

25:00So, I don't see it as as um we're being

25:04called too often for things that we're

25:07not necessarily the solution for, but

25:09there's definitely

25:12behaviors associated with this

25:14population downtown being be it, you

25:16know, retail theft that is constant

25:20trespass that is constant where we have

25:22to go. we are the right solution, but

25:26ultimately the root cause of the

25:28individuals that's the target of the

25:29police call is not being addressed.

25:32>> So just to be clear, police are the

25:35solution to show up and arrest somebody,

25:38but the solution to the problem is

25:40addressing the root cause. So there's

25:42two solutions. Is that what you're

25:44saying?

25:45>> No, I I think that once someone's

25:47committed a crime, we have a job to do.

25:49But when that crime is because they are

25:53living on the street and they

25:54chronically go and sleep on private

25:57property or hang out on private

26:00property, use drugs on private property,

26:02then you know there's there's something

26:04that we need to get at there. And I know

26:07from my experience in the criminal legal

26:08system that that typically is not going

26:10to happen through a series of

26:12misdemeanor charges. What's going to

26:14happen is usually a plea agreement and

26:16they're sent back out in the street. I

26:18mean, as as effective as the

26:20accountability docket was that the

26:22governor brought to Chittening County in

26:24terms of addressing the backlog of

26:27misdemeanor cases, it really didn't get

26:29at why the people were in that that

26:32position overall. So, I I guess I'm

26:35sorry if I'm not being clear. I think we

26:37have a role in this, but ultimately

26:40sometimes the person's situation is

26:42what's feeding their criminality.

26:45>> Sure. I think I think we're totally in

26:48agreement on that. I think that perhaps

26:51from my viewpoint um the solution to

26:54this criminality is bigger, which you

26:57know you say and and is evident through

26:59all of the data that you present every

27:00month that people will continue um their

27:04criminal behavior when they don't have

27:06any other opportunity. and that the

27:10solution of addressing that criminal

27:13behavior by sending them to court to

27:15take a plea is not a solution. Actually,

27:18it's what you are charged to do and what

27:20you are doing. But to me, that is a way

27:22of addressing something that isn't a

27:24solution. And maybe that's why I was

27:26hoping the discussion could become a

27:28little bit larger and maybe the police

27:30would be willing to take on part of that

27:32role of actually educating the public.

27:34Not just by saying we will always show

27:37up and please call us whenever you see

27:39anything, but that maybe there is a

27:42right time and a wrong time for somebody

27:44to call about something that is in fact

27:46a crime like trespassing on private

27:48property. That's it.

27:53>> Thanks, Chief. Okay.

27:55>> Okay. The next item on our agenda is

27:59commendations. I believe we have a

28:01couple.

28:04>> Okay. This first one is from the mayor.

28:06Hello colleagues. I wanted to take a

28:08moment to express my deep appreciation

28:09for the coordination and work to clean

28:11and clear college street near and abuing

28:13city hall park last week. This was a

28:14true multi- department effort that took

28:16a lot of planning, logistical

28:17coordination, and care related to the

28:19folks who needed to re who we needed to

28:20relocate. Thank you. It had a positive

28:23impact and help us start to disrupt

28:24patterns making the park and sidewalks

28:26unusable by the wider community. This

28:28part this part of our downtown has been

28:30under deep scrutiny by many folks in our

28:32community. And I know that there have

28:33been sentiments expressed that the city

28:35is not doing enough. I want to be clear.

28:37I have deep appreciation for all of the

28:38work you each do every day to help our

28:40city manage these unprecedented times in

28:42our parks and streets. I know how hard

28:45your I know how hard you each work

28:46within DPW, BPRW, BPD, CEDEDO, DPI, and

28:51the city attorney's office to keep our

28:53city operational, clean, safe, and

28:54livable. I also appreciate the extra

28:56work it takes to implement a hotspot

28:58strategy that needs to move quickly at

29:00times, and also includes trying to

29:02trying new creative approaches. Thank

29:04you for the work you Thank you for the

29:06work you collectively did in the last

29:07few weeks, few days, and the continued

29:10work you do to support everyone in our

29:12community. We continue to welcome ideas

29:14as we continue the work of hotspots.

29:17Feel free to reach out to FFL director

29:19Mary Dano if you want to share any

29:21insights or ideas. Thank you again.

29:23Peace, Emma.

29:26Our second commendation, Chief Burke and

29:29Lieutenant Bellivo, [clears throat] as

29:30you have likely heard already, the jury

29:31returned three guilty verdicts in the

29:33Jason Eaton cases this afternoon.

29:35Deliberating for less than two hours,

29:36they rejected Mr. 's claim of insanity

29:38and held him accountable for his actions

29:40on November 25th, 2023. Sarah and I are

29:44so grateful for the partnership between

29:45BPD and her office. This partnership is

29:47on full display in cases like this. Your

29:49team in the DSB has been nothing but

29:51professional, organized, thorough, and

29:53diligent in their investigation of this

29:55case, and it has been a pleasure putting

29:57our trial case together for the jury

29:59with their assistance. We are thankful

30:00for their service. Everyone CCed on this

30:02email is top-notch. BPD is lucky to have

30:05them and we here at the CCSAO are lucky

30:08they're a part of the team as well.

30:10Sally Adams, chief deputy states

30:12attorney.

30:14Okay, number three. Good morning. This

30:17is a picture of the car that redacted

30:20showed up with and flat out told me it

30:22was his new car. This car is now parked

30:24in the garage at night and reg and

30:26regular activity with drugs, cars coming

30:28and going since he came back. The

30:30picture of redacted with two of his

30:32people showed up. went in the house and

30:34came out with a backpack and fanny pack

30:36which he was wearing across his chest.

30:38From what I understand, this man has

30:39criminally has a criminally suspended

30:41license less than a week back in the

30:43drug dealing less than a week back and

30:46the drug dealing resumes. I want to

30:47thank BPD for their quick response to

30:49this residence lately. Officers Phil

30:51Brick and Officer Gonzalez have been

30:52amazing.

30:55Number four. Good morning, Sean. My

30:58father-in-law has dementia. Every day he

30:59takes a short little stroll up the

31:02street and back for about 10 minutes.

31:03Yesterday afternoon his wife called to

31:05say that Jack hadn't returned. I drove

31:07his route a couple of times but couldn't

31:08locate him. He had also left the house

31:10without his identification. About a half

31:12hour later, Anna Wiggling pulled up to

31:15the house and Jack came out and out came

31:17Jack. She introduced herself and said

31:18Jack had showed up at Willard Street

31:21Dental. They were unable to identify

31:23Jack and had called the PD. That's when

31:24Anna Anna entered the scene. Jack could

31:26not say where he lived nor give her his

31:28date of birth. Anna did some pretty

31:30great soouththing and very with very

31:32little info to go on. Eventually came up

31:34with the right address and brought him

31:35to his house. She was delightful, kind,

31:37friendly, and a great representative of

31:39the PD. You could also tell she really

31:41loves her job. So, thanks to Anna and

31:43her investigation skills and caring. All

31:45is well. Best to you, Sean EMTT.

31:48And finally,

31:51Chief, I just wanted to pass along thank

31:53you and offer some appreciation for your

31:54team's help at last night's fatal crash

31:57on Shelurn Road. CSO Young spent about 4

31:59hours managing the congested stretch of

32:01road at the city line between 189 Swift

32:04Street, Queen and Queen City Park Road

32:06by himself. He was entirely

32:07self-sufficient and wellprepared with

32:09plenty of cones. I was most impressed

32:11with his attitude. After I went to help

32:13him break down the scene, CSO Young had

32:15a smile on his face and told me he could

32:17have continued for hours if needed. His

32:19readiness and willing and willingness to

32:21help allowed us to focus our limited

32:23resources on the investigation instead

32:24of traffic. It was a huge help. Thanks

32:26again, Martin Maloney, Sergeant, South

32:29Burlington Police Department.

32:31And that is it for commendations.

32:36>> Oh, I skipped. Thank you.

32:39>> No, I do. I do. I skipped an item on our

32:42agenda uh commission business. We don't

32:44have much to discuss, but on um the

32:47animal control committee, we issued a an

32:51order on the dog moose that was issued,

32:53I believe, last Monday. That is on civic

32:55clerk if folks would like to read it. We

32:57also have our complaints committee

33:00meeting immediately following this

33:01meeting, but is there anything else that

33:02you want to say about complaints?

33:04>> Great. Okay. Then the announcement of

33:08our next meeting date which will be

33:12>> Yeah.

33:12>> Um I just want to say something real

33:14quick and I know it's we do give the

33:16accommodations uh chief but I think it's

33:20hopefully it's a great thing to hear

33:22directly from the commission how

33:23grateful we are for your service and to

33:25the team and I know you guys are super

33:27understaffed

33:28um without getting political or anything

33:31just the way things are in our city. Um,

33:34but I'm hoping that as time goes on and

33:37with your what you are contributing to

33:40the city and what the rest of the team

33:41is contributing that things slowly get

33:43better and that what we do here as time

33:46goes on contributes to more help rather

33:49than uh less. So, I just want to say

33:52just thank you for all that you do.

33:54Really, we appreciate you and your team.

33:56>> Thank you very much.

33:57>> Thanks, Commissioner.

33:59Okay, this brings us to the end of our

34:01agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn?

34:05>> So moved.

34:06>> I will second. All those in favor say I.

34:08>> Oh.

34:09>> I

34:10>> I

34:11>> I.

34:11>> The eyes carry. We are adjourned.

34:28>> [music]

```*