Vermont sheriffs’ departments have drawn scrutiny recently after a few in their ranks were charged with criminal offenses yet remained on the job. That scrutiny is expected to grow more intense after a group of key state senators introduced legislation Tuesday that they say would bring needed changes to the sheriffs’ departments.
S.17, an act relating to sheriff reforms, includes several notable proposals. The most significant is its goal of ending the decades-old policy that allows sheriffs to take administration fees for their department’s contract work with private and public entities.
Under existing state law, sheriffs can tack on up to 5% of the contract amount. In practice, sheriffs have either kept the maximum percentage to add to their own salaries, taken home a fraction and rolled the rest into their departments’ budgets, or rolled the full amount into the department.
“Some literally increase their own salary, and it’s the only office in state government that has such a provision,” said Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and one of the 10 co-sponsors of the bill.
“We felt that, as it’s being inconsistently utilized by sheriffs’ departments, it was not financially or fiscally responsible,” she said.
The bill also proposes adding a couple of entries to a list of unprofessional conduct definitions for law enforcement officers. The list guides the Vermont Criminal Justice Council in evaluating police certifications.
Under the major category “gross professional misconduct,” lawmakers want to add “gross negligence or willful misconduct in the performance of duties” as well as “abuse of the powers granted through law enforcement officer certification.”
Windham County Sheriff Mark Anderson, the president of the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association, said the group is reviewing the bill.
“Our organization works to support and further develop professional sheriffs to serve Vermont and fill the many public safety gaps that exist today,” he said in an email on Tuesday.
Hardy decided to work on the bill after the sheriff in her district, Peter Newton of Addison County, was arrested in June on felony charges of sexual assault and unlawful restraint.
Newton, who pleaded not guilty, did not seek reelection in November but resisted calls to resign. He remains sheriff until Feb. 1.
“That is what really spurred me to want to look into what could we do to provide better oversight for sheriffs, because there just seems to be every few weeks another issue (arises) with sheriffs or sheriff’s deputies,” Hardy said.
In Franklin County, former sheriff’s deputy John Grismore was elected to head the department two months ago despite facing a simple assault charge. He is accused of using excessive force in August, after he was recorded on video kicking a man under the sheriff’s department’s custody.
As sheriff-elect, Grismore has denied any wrongdoing and is scheduled to take office in February. He can be removed from office only through impeachment by the Legislature.
Sheriffs aren’t required to be sworn law enforcement officers. But for those who are, such as Newton and Grismore, being decertified by the Criminal Justice Council won’t remove them from the sheriff’s seat.
“Effectively, they wouldn’t be able to practice law enforcement,” said Christopher Brickell, deputy director of the council. “But they would not lose their position as an elected official.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who also co-sponsored S.17, said the state constitution limits lawmakers’ oversight of sheriffs since they are elected members of another branch of government.
“We started out with higher goals, but every time we tried to look at some area, we were rebuffed by constitutional separation of powers,” said Sears, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said state legislators are studying other options they have to institute better checks and balances on sheriffs’ departments.
S.17 also directs the Vermont secretary of state and the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs to study potentially restructuring county sheriffs’ departments.
The agencies would report back to designated House and Senate committees by January 2024 on the “necessary number of sheriff’s departments in the State” and the “precise boundaries of any proposed district in which a sheriff’s department is to be established.”
The bill is scheduled to be moved on Wednesday from Sears’ committee to Hardy’s, where it’s expected to be taken up soon. Its sponsors include Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden.
When asked whether Gov. Phil Scott supports the bill, his spokesperson, Jason Maulucci, said the office has not yet reviewed the legislative proposal.