John Walters is a VTDigger political columnist.
On Monday, April 20, the International Association of Chiefs of Police issued its review of the Bennington Police Department. Initial reactions to the report serve to underscore the basic problem: Different, and mutually exclusive, views of the BPD’s work and its relationships with the community.
Which is exactly the issue that must be overcome if the police are to win the trust of all residents — and if the town is to repair its image as a hotspot of racism.
The IACP report found no evidence of overt bias, but did find several ways in which the BPD contributes to the perception of bias. The report found evidence of a pervasive “warrior mentality” in the department. Police practices “have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the department.” And the IACP team found fault with the lack of “full and detailed data” around issues of bias.
In his first reaction to the report, town manager Stuart Hurd emphasized the upside. “There are positive comments in it by IAPC about our policies and procedures,” he said in an April 20 interview with VTDigger. He added that the town suffers mainly from “a perception issue.” Which puts the onus on those who have that perception.
In an essay published by The Bennington Banner on April 23, Police Chief Paul Doucette said the report makes “some interesting points and offers recommendations… that are worth considering.” But he slammed the report for failing to “fully capture much of the great work of the Bennington Police.”
On the other hand, Shawn Pratt, a black community activist, says the IACP’s review is accurate. “The report hit it on the nose,” he said in a Friday phone interview. “They found some biases and a disconnection between police and community that’s felt in a lot of places.” He added, “Somebody has to take this seriously.”
Tabitha Moore, Vermont State Director of the NAACP, offered a scathing review of the report and official reaction. “You can’t hide the fact that they are engaged in poor policing practices,” she said. “There was nothing about the town’s response that seemed genuine or self-reflective.”
In the 1950 classic film “Rashomon,” four travelers give contradictory accounts of the same incident, reflecting their own biases and experiences. In Bennington, members of the town’s establishment and disaffected residents are interpreting the IACP report from their divergent points of view.
Another dimension of the Rashomon phenomenon can be seen in two news accounts of the IACP report — one from outside the community, the other from within.
VTDigger’s story was entitled “Report says Bennington Police display a ‘warrior mentality,’ hurting trust.” The story led with the IAPC’s finding that “Bennington’s police practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the department.”
Meanwhile, the Banner’s article seemed designed to bore readers to distraction. The headline was completely passive: “Team Releases Bennington Police Study Report.” The text was dominated by lengthy quotations from the report, which blunted the impact of the findings in a blizzard of bureaucrat-ese. The phrase “warrior mentality” was not reported at all. There were quotes from four town officials — but none from community members or critics of the BPD.
The divisions in Bennington are not entirely a matter of black and white. “This town has a bad problem communicating with the poorer demographic,” Pratt said. But race is a common theme in some notably bad chapters in recent history.
In 2013, Shamel Alexander, a Brooklyn, N.Y. man, was arrested for heroin possession after a traffic stop in Bennington. He was convicted in Superior Court — but the Vermont Supreme Court threw out the case in 2016 because the police didn’t have reasonable cause for stopping Alexander in the first place.
The IAPC report found that the BPD heavily emphasizes traffic enforcement — making 6,000 or more stops per year in a town of 12,000. Although it found no evidence of bias, the report noted that traffic stops in other jurisdictions have often been racially motivated. That fact and Alexander’s prosecution fed into a narrative of selective enforcement. It didn’t help that during sentencing, Judge Nancy Corsones made some inflammatory remarks about big-city drug dealers.
The Kiah Morris case is even more impactful. She resigned from the Vermont House after a series of incidents of racial harassment — and after no one was ever charged with any offense. Internal emails obtained by VTDigger showed that during his department’s investigation, Chief Doucette was throwing cold water on Morris’ allegations and even accusing her of “profiting [from] her ‘story.’”
Bennington has a chip on its shoulder. Well, a few chips, actually. Its formerly robust manufacturing sector is largely gone. Its proximity to Albany and I-87 makes Bennington a potential transit point for drug dealers. The nearby groundwater is tainted. Townsfolk often feel ignored by state government.
Except when a racial issue comes to the forefront, and then it’s Bad Ol’ Bennington once again. “Getting painted with a broad brush is very painful,” said Don Campbell, chair of the town select board. “We have a great and quite progressive community.”
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, agrees. “When I first ran for state representative [in 2010] as an openly gay man, the community embraced it,” Campion said. “Those people also elected Kiah Morris, twice.”
But the power structure failed Morris in her time of need, and that feeds a healthy sense of mistrust.
“There are an awful lot of people who don’t have a positive view of the police,” said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington. “The report provides a roadmap to overcome that.”
But, he added, it will require “a heavy lift on the part of the select board. The goal has to be to build trust and legitimacy.”
Campbell is making the right noises. “It means a lot to me that we get this right,” he said. “I really want our town to take the appropriate, progressive, well-measured response to this.”
The board’s “heavy lift” will formally begin on May 4, when members will discuss the report and hear public comments. Fixing the problem will require much more than good intentions; it will require meaningful results, the quicker the better, and a long pull in the right direction.
“It took us a while to get here,” said Sears. “It will take a while to get out.”
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