This story by Grace Benninghoff was first published in The Bridge on July 2, 2026.
The exodus of Montpelier police officers to the nearby town of Northfield is not over.
Two additional members of the Montpelier Police Department — Sgt. Diane Mathews and Detective Alesha Donovan — have resigned to join the Northfield Police Department. That makes four officers departing Montpelier for Northfield in the past month. In all, Montpelier is left with 11 officers in a department approved for 17.
Montpelier City Manager Kelly McNicholas Kury has appointed Detective Sgt. Jeffrey Pearson as interim police chief, effective July 6. Pearson has been with the Montpelier Police Department since 2009 and is its third-highest-ranking officer after Chief Eric Nordenson and Deputy Chief Kevin Moulton — who jointly announced their leaving for Northfield in May.
Pearson will lead the department while the city searches for a permanent chief. Nordenson, Moulton, Mathews and Donovan did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
The departures are the latest in a string of losses that have hollowed out Montpelier’s force. McNicholas Kury, who took over as city manager in April, is now overseeing a department that has lost four officers to a single town in a matter of weeks.
The city recently hired one new officer, but that person is just beginning at the Vermont Police Academy, and McNicholas Kury noted that it takes a long time to get someone trained and able to patrol on their own.
A 2025 staffing study found best practices in policing would call for between 21 and 24 officers for a city of Montpelier’s size — a number not reflected in the city budget, and one that doesn’t account for the daily influx of workers or the added demands of a state capital.
Meanwhile, Northfield has been rebuilding its police force after near collapse. When Mary Smith took over as Northfield town manager on May 1, only one officer was actively on duty. Four of six positions were vacant, and one officer was out on medical leave. The town had also been reckoning with the fallout from the departure of a previous chief. In May, former Northfield Police Chief Pierre Gomez filed a lawsuit against the town alleging racial discrimination after resigning in October.
Smith, who spent five years working in Montpelier under former City Manager Bill Fraser, knew Nordenson, Moulton, Mathews and Donovan from her time there. She said rebuilding the police force was the No. 1 priority she was given by the Northfield Selectboard when she started.
Moulton had already been serving as Northfield’s interim police chief since January in tandem with his role as deputy chief in Montpelier. Shortly after she started as town manager, Smith said, she asked him if he’d be interested in staying on permanently.
“He would not come without more people,” she said. “He didn’t feel he could do the department justice on his own and there was more interest to come.”
With Mathews and Donovan joining Nordenson and Moulton, Northfield’s department will be fully staffed for the first time in recent memory. All four are set to begin their new roles the week of July 13.
“Going from no force to a full force is pretty remarkable,” Smith said. “It was honestly an opportunity that I was very lucky to bring to fruition.” She also noted that Vermont State Police have long had to fill the gaps left by Northfield’s depleted force.
“I’m glad we’ll be less of a concern for them and that we can carry our own weight,” she said.
For Montpelier, the situation is considerably more fraught. McNicholas Kury did not sugarcoat what the staffing shortage will mean for the city.
“The community should know that they have a well-trained and experienced bench of officers at the Montpelier PD,” she wrote in a statement released Tuesday. “But under strained staffing levels, there will undoubtedly be a shift in the level of service that the department can provide. Our police force responds to a wide range of calls, and they will need to triage their response to ensure the most serious offenses are prioritized.”
The department is now evaluating whether it can continue to provide 24-hour coverage. Pearson will work with McNicholas Kury to assess staffing options, identify opportunities for internal promotions to fill leadership voids, and continue recruiting new officers.
Pearson began his law enforcement career in North Carolina in 1998 and served four years in the U.S. Navy before joining the Ocean Isle Beach Police Department in North Carolina for eight years. He then joined the Northfield Police Department for approximately 18 months before coming to Montpelier in 2009, where he was promoted to sergeant in 2016.
“I’m honored to serve as interim police chief and grateful for the opportunity to lead our department during this transition,” Pearson said in a statement.
McNicholas Kury said she is continuing the search for a permanent chief. The city is soliciting proposals for executive recruitment services and hopes to bring on a firm to consult with the city manager on the recruitment process. McNicholas Kury said the process of hiring a new chief could take up to four months.
