Updated at 5:51 p.m.
Gov. Phil Scott has appointed Jennifer Morrison to lead the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
Morrison, who has served as department’s interim commissioner following the resignation last month of Michael Schirling as commissioner, becomes the first woman to serve as the department’s leader. Schirling left the post to become University of Vermont’s chief safety and compliance officer.
Vermont’s public safety commissioner oversees the Vermont State Police, the state’s Division of Fire Safety, emergency management and the state’s forensic laboratory.
“She has been a great asset to our team and will continue to excel in the critical role of Vermont’s commissioner of the Department Public Safety,” Scott said of Morrison in a written statement.
Morrison, speaking Thursday afternoon, said she had enjoyed serving in the department over roughly the past year and a half and now looks forward to being its leader.
“When he extended the opportunity, I was eager to accept it and really happy to be part of his cabinet,” she said of the governor’s offer to become the department’s commissioner.
Morrison said that a top priority as the state’s public safety commission will be working to maintain public safety in Vermont as law enforcement agencies across the state, as well as the Vermont State Police, deal with staffing shortages.
“We need to work together,” she said of police forces around the state. “We’re a small state, we’ve always had to rely on other agencies.”
Morrison said while there is no one answer to boosting law enforcement recruitment efforts, it’s important to offer “competitive” compensation packages.
“I think we need to stop the divisive narrative that the police are somehow the bad guys in society,” Morrison said. “Let’s stop demonizing and start clearly articulating what the role of police or troopers is in Vermont communities.”
Morrison joined the department in October 2020 as the executive director of policy development and then moved into the role of deputy commissioner. In her three decades in law enforcement, according to the press release, Morrison has served as a Burlington police officer and rose in the ranks to deputy chief before becoming Colchester’s police chief in 2013.
After five years as Colchester’s police chief, Morrison retired and continued to work as a consultant and instructor.
Morrison came out of retirement in January 2020 to serve as interim police chief in Burlington. The police chief position became open after the previous top two leaders became embroiled in scandal for online posts and resigned.
Morrison announced in September 2020 that she would not be returning to the post after taking leave that summer to care for her sick husband.
In announcing that she would not be returning as acting police chief, Morrison cited, in part, what she called the City Council’s “mismanagement” of the police department.
Among the criticisms Morrison cited was the council action to cut the number of police officers by 30%, which she termed arbitrary and motivated by politics, putting public safety at risk.
“I believe that too many members of the current City Council are more interested in social activism than good governance,” Morrison wrote in a letter to Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Burlington that summer faced protests like those taking place across the country over the use of force by officers, with activists seeking the termination of three Burlington police officers investigated for excessive force.
Asked Thursday if her past comments about the City Council would hurt her ability to work with the city of Burlington, Morrison replied, “I think that the decision, in the time and place I made it, was the correct one and absolutely does not impede my ability to work well with the city.”
