Burlington City Council passed a resolution that removed the hiring cap imposed upon the Burlington Police Department at a meeting on Monday, Jan. 27.
This amendment reverses past efforts to reduce the size of the city’s police department by attrition, specifically a 2020 resolution that sought to reduce the department’s size by 30%, capping the number of officers at 74. A 2021 resolution later raised the cap to 87.
The new resolution, which was approved in a narrow 6-5 vote, stated that the city still views racism as a public health crisis and “remains committed to advancing racial equity in Burlington.”
“I’m very proud and fully supportive of this resolution, said Councilor Becca Brown McKnight, a Democrat. “Tonight, I feel like we’re bringing forward something that truly is directly responsive to what officers at the Burlington Police Department and the chief are asking us to do.”
The resolution also called for a review of barriers to hiring officers and a review of funding for lateral hires and recruitment.
Councilor Mark Barlow, an Independent, said the cap has acted as a hindrance in BPD’s goal of acquiring more officers.
“No other department has a politically imposed hiring limit like the one we currently have at BPD,” he said. “I’m interested in removing obstacles to recruitment, and we’ve been told this is an obstacle to recruitment.”
Barlow said he thinks removing the cap will act as an invitation for the BPD to receive more recruits and lateral hires.
“It seems very simple to me that if we remove this, it’s a gesture,” he said. “[The resolution] may actually unlock our ability to attract more lateral hires and new recruits that may think they’re limited by the hobbled number of resources that we have.”
The people of Burlington are asking for more police officers and support from the department, McKnight said.
“They don’t need us to agree on every little detail,” McKnight said, “but the people are desperate for us to make some forward momentum on this topic, and I’m glad that we’ll be able to do that tonight.”
Progressives, however, are less sure of the resolution’s efficacy.
Councilor Eugene Bergman, a Progressive, said he doesn’t think the actions proposed by the resolution will solve the problems facing the BPD.
“We have and will continue to work to both meet the target of 87 and to support a data-driven and supported assessment of the need for sworn officers, ” Bergman said. “This resolution does neither.”
The council also unanimously approved a resolution to ban firearms in stores with first class liquor licenses, with exceptions for law enforcement officers and other authorized government personnel.
The Red Square shooting that occurred was the kickstarter of this resolution. A Burlington man was shot and killed outside a bar over an argument regarding payment for a drink on Aug. 24, 2024.
“This is an issue relating to worker safety,” Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said, “Not only to the people that are working downtown […] but also for the safety of our police officers and our customers as well.”
Councilor Melo Grant, a Progressive, said she thinks these resolutions are more for optics than anything else.
“My personal opinion is that they’re stunts,” Grant said. “They are shiny little things meant to divert people’s attention, and then we don’t really follow up on them, and they don’t always contain things that are fully correct.”
The resolution to ban firearms in liquor stores will be on the March 4 ballot for Burlington citizens to vote on.
