Gov. Phil Scott released a set of initiatives that he says will help address public safety in Burlington, ranging from increasing law enforcement presence to expanding substance use treatment.
Details of how the proposals would be rolled out remain under ongoing discussion, officials said Friday, with state and city leaders adding that, despite past tensions, working together and combining resources would be key to the plan’s success.
The governor announced the steps of the 14-point “short term action plan” in a press release Thursday.
“I believe this collaborative effort will help Burlington turn the corner, so residents, students, visitors, business owners and their employees feel safe, so they can enjoy all the attributes this historic city has to offer,” Scott said in the announcement.
He also underscored that the proposals would be put into effect over a three to four month period, with more long-term efforts to come.
The outline does not go into great detail about many of the proposals — most are laid out in only a sentence. The initiatives also do not include projected cost estimates or provide information about how they would be funded.
Amanda Wheeler, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, wrote in an email Friday that the plan will be funded “within existing resources.”
It is unclear what the projected price tag for each part of the plan would be and how that would be funded. Wheeler did not immediately respond to a follow-up email requesting more details.
Scott’s announcement comes more than a month after he declared he would develop a plan to address public safety concerns in Burlington. Previously, Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said that Scott wasn’t doing enough to help the Queen City.
In turn, Jennifer Morrison, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety and Burlington’s former police chief, said at an August press conference with the governor that Burlington was the one that needed to step up. “The city has made their bed, and they are going to have to ask for specifics to help turn the corner,” Morrison said at that time.
Speaking on the governor’s new plans, Mulvaney-Stanak said Friday that the city is grappling with more complex problems than a municipality could possibly handle on its own.
She sees homelessness, mental health issues and the opiate crisis as the main “trifecta” of issues the city is grappling with, she said. While those problems are certainly suffered statewide, she said that Burlington has been “the canary in the mine” for some time.
Mulvaney-Stanak said that as the governor’s plans get underway in the coming months, it’s time to start looking at medium and long-term solutions.
“How do we get to the deeper issues here that underpin a lot of the folks who are truly suffering in the center of all this?” she asked.
A special court docket
One part of Scott’s plan — the establishment of a special docket aimed at reducing a backlog of cases pending in Chittenden County Superior criminal court — was already announced earlier this month and is now up and running. Its launch came after public defenders saw a large recent uptick in criminal cases in the county over the summer.
That plan included the governor appointing a special prosecutor, the judiciary assigning a judge, and the defender general’s office naming a lead defense attorney to help move cases of people with five or more cases through the court system.
A retired judge, Martin Maley, has been specially assigned to preside over the docket, according to Chief Superior Judge Thomas Zonay.
Zonay added in an email Friday that the governor’s office has “indicated” it will cover the costs associated with operating the additional courtroom during the 90-day pilot docket period.
“We project that the additional costs, including a judicial officer, court personnel and security personnel to approximate $150,000,” Zonay wrote.
Police cooperation
In his latest announcement, Scott said that a number of policing initiatives will accompany the court. He offered state law enforcement resources to assist city police with “foot patrols, marked unit presence, and greater visibility in Burlington,” the announcement said.
Scott also directed local service providers that work with the Agency of Human Services to use law enforcement “when appropriate for violent and disruptive behaviors in and around their premises.”
Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, referred specific questions about the law enforcement agency’s role in the plan, and how the plan would be funded, to the governor’s office.
Wheeler, the governor’s spokesperson, stated in an email that the administration would be in “close communication” with Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke “to coordinate the operational details.”
Details of collaboration between city and state police are yet to be determined, Burke said Friday. Burke said he’s meeting soon with the director of the state police and Zach Weight, the special prosecutor, to iron out the details.
Burke said he doesn’t see Scott’s plan as an “enforcement only” strategy.
“Any notion that enforcement is the only way out of this is completely false, but policing is important,” Burke said. And sometimes police presence and response is necessary to keep people safe, he said.
Burke doesn’t expect Scott’s plan to change the way his officers police, he said. It really augments resources, he said.
Mulvaney-Stanak said that she’s grateful for the resources in the court system, but that it’s necessary for the court and the police to also be connecting people with the resources they need, rather than just incarcerating them.
Prison is a “non-solution” — both her Burke share that opinion, Mulvaney-Stanak said. People should only be sentenced to prison if they’re violent or an acute threat to the community, she said.
Pre-trial supervision
For people who are sentenced to prison, Scott’s plan calls for the corrections department to expand prison substance use treatment as well as the “immediate implementation” of a pre-trial supervision program in Burlington.
Haley Sommer, a corrections department spokesperson, said Friday that the department already provides substance treatment to incarcerated individuals, such as medication assisted treatment.
The proposal calls for the corrections department to “intensify” substance use treatment in facilities to provide services more like a person would receive in a residential treatment facility available in the community, Sommer said. That would include, Sommer said, increased hours, enhanced assessments and additional types of treatment.
The pretrial supervision program will build on a pilot program already underway in Essex and Orleans counties, and expand it into Burlington and Chittenden County, according to Sommer.
“It serves those who have been charged with a crime and that are awaiting trial and they are in the community,” Sommer said.
According to Sommer, the program targets “certain high-risk” people who may have previously violated their conditions of release or have multiple dockets and need more support services as they await resolution of their cases.
Sommer said money to pay for the pretrial supervision initiative in Burlington would come from funds in the state budget already approved for the previously planned expansion of the program.
Mulvaney-Stanak said that she and Weight, special prosecutor of the new court, have already noticed a gap in services between when someone is cited for a crime and when they appear in court. “That’s an immediate break in a system that often will push people right back out into the street,” she said. They are considering how to close that gap, she said.
Scott’s creation of the new court comes at a time when corrections facilities in Vermont are oversubscribed, with male facilities almost 60% above the recommended threshold, according to department data. Sommer said it’s not clear at this point whether the overall plan would lead to an increase in people incarcerated.
“It’s challenging to predict what those numbers will look like,” Sommer said. “We do also have some outlet for sending individuals out of state as we’re currently contracted for around 300 beds, but only have 128 men out of state.”
