Updated at 4:17 p.m.
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad announced Tuesday that he plans to step down from the post next year.
Murad, who was appointed acting chief of the department in June 2020, informed Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak of his decision in a Nov. 4 letter, which the mayor’s office shared in a press release on Tuesday.
“It has been my great honor to be the chief of police,” Murad said in the letter. “The people of the Burlington Police Department are some of the best coworkers I have ever had, and serving the citizens of the city in which I was born has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.”
Murad plans to continue to lead the department into the new year, but said he expects to step down from the role in April 2025.
Muvlaney-Stanak, in the press release, thanked Murad for his “years of service to our community.”
“First responders, especially those who are called to lead public safety departments, face increasingly difficult workloads and complex dynamics. As such, I appreciate his willingness to continue leading the Police department over the next several months and supporting a successful leadership transition” said Mulvaney-Stanak. “I look forward to honoring the Chief and his many contributions at a community celebration this spring.”
In the coming weeks, the city plans to begin a national search for the next chief of police, according to the Mulvaney-Stanak.
Both Mulvaney-Stanak and Murad declined interview requests on Tuesday.
Murad, who grew up in Underhill, joined the Burlington department in 2018 after a decade working in the New York Police Department.
He served as deputy chief before being promoted to the top job after then-Chief Brandon del Pozo resigned amid a social media scandal.
In an email to the police department Tuesday morning announcing his resignation, Murad pointed to a number of accomplishments during his time at the helm, including the development of a fair and impartial 14th Amendment training, making police data more accessible on the city’s website, and overseeing the department’s expansion of community service officers and liaisons.
But Murad’s tenure as chief, which coincided with a tumultuous period for the department, has not been without controversy.
He led the department through the summer of 2020, which saw nationwide protests against policing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. And he remained in the role after the Burlington City Council voted to reduce the city’s police force through attrition.
Murad, who was sharply critical of the decision, has been a polarizing figure in the city, drawing the ire of the city’s Progressive wing.
Then-Mayor Miro Weinberger’s efforts to officially appoint Murad as police chief ran into opposition from the council, which, in February 2022, blocked the move with a 6-6 vote. The council did eventually confirm Murad as the city’s chief in June 2023, though not without some opposition from Progressive members.
After Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, was elected mayor in March, she reappointed Murad emphasizing the importance of “continuity of leadership.”
But political tensions appeared to build in the lead-up to the November election, when city voters approved a ballot item to increase civilian oversight of the city’s police department. Murad opposed the measure, while the mayor supported it.
The department also came under fire earlier this year, when a mock shooting staged at the department for Burlington High School students made national headlines.
Murad was criticized last year after reporting from Seven Days revealed he had threatened to arrest a trauma surgeon as he treated a gunshot victim at the hospital.
The chief, in his email to the police department Tuesday, said stepping down “was one of the more difficult decisions I’ve ever made.” He continued, “For more than four years I’ve defined myself, in part, by my desire to endure and overcome the crisis into which we were thrust by the city council vote in 2020, and by my deeper desire to serve all of you, so that all of us can serve the public.”
He wrote that he plans on staying in his role “long enough to facilitate a smooth, safe, and orderly transition, ensure continuity of command, and move forward on the path we’ve forged in recent years.”
He told his colleagues his last day would be on April 7, if not before.
City Council President Ben Traverse, in an interview, said he was “incredibly grateful for the chief’s service to Burlington.”
“He didn’t come here to be the police chief. He became the police chief under unexpected circumstances at really uncertain times for our country, for our community, and certainly for our police department,” he said. “I think he’s done a really upstanding job to see the department through a really turbulent time for it and the policing profession generally.”
Murad’s tenure will come to an end as the department continues to struggle with staffing issues. The department, he wrote to colleagues, has 34% fewer sworn officers than in 2019.
“We’re not able to do the job the way we want,” he wrote.
Murad noted that the department had hired 23 new employees, including 15 police officers, in 2023 and 22 new employees this year.
“But unfortunately, only seven of those have been police officers, and we lost thirteen sworn throughout the year,” he said. “The (department) needs to regain momentum on that front.”
Traverse said that the national search for a new police chief should be preceded by a community engagement process “to hear what they are looking for in the next candidate.”
He added, “Whoever comes in as the next police chief is really, I think, going to need to be someone who is able to really sell Burlington, and sell the Burlington Police Department to prospective applicants and show that this is a great place to live, it’s a great place to work, and hopefully we can break through these challenges we continue to face in terms of recruiting additional officers to come here.”
Murad, in his email to his staff, said that rebuilding the department “has been, is, and will continue to be my number one priority, but I will not get there with you. And yet I urge all of you to keep believing that it can be done, because the city needs you.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of new police department hires in 2023.
