Burlington City Councilor Ali Dieng, foreground, questions Mayor Miro Weinberger and Police Chief Brandon del Pozo during an April 29 meeting where police policies were discussed. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
BURLINGTON — City councilors are calling for a review of the police department’s use of force policy and are expressing concerns about body camera footage showing officers tackling and forcibly pushing men who are now suing the city alleging police brutality.
Members across the political divide agree that a review of the department’s use of force policy is necessary, especially after Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said at the council’s April 29 meeting that he also thought the policy should be reviewed.
Police released body camera footage Friday from two September 2018 incidents of police interactions with black men who have since sued the city.
The disclosure of the two incidents comes during a tense time for the department, as state police investigate the death of a Burlington man days after he was punched by a city patrolman. Douglas Kilburn’s death was ruled a homicide by Chief Medical Examiner Steven Shapiro. Officer Corey Campbell said Kilburn had punched him first.
Four Progressive councilors — Perri Freeman, Jack Hanson, Brian Pine and Max Tracy — issued a statement Saturday condemning the department’s “unnecessary and excessive” use of force and announcing plans to sponsor a resolution at the council’s next meeting, May 13, calling for a review of the policy.
The resolution will call “for a thorough review of the BPD use of force policy with the goal being to adopt a policy that ensures meaningful protections, training (including training in trauma and de-escalation techniques) and accountability to ensure that law enforcement officers exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to the use of force and to broadly prevent all forms of police violence,” according to the statement.
Pine said that he thinks the department has a cultural problem, and he did not think these were isolated incidents.
“I was appalled, I was saddened, I was shocked,” he said. “It made me feel physically sick. I have to ask, if that was a white college kid or recent college graduate, I have to wonder if the events would have unfolded that way, and I have to say I doubt it.”
Freeman said that a review of the use of force policy is a good place to start and the review should also consist of disciplinary procedures and other police policies to ensure community safety.
“Ultimately, I would like to see the situation in which members of the public feel there are going to be safe interactions and not an escalation of force, and that they’re going to be safe,” she said.
Burlington City Councilor Adam Roof. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Councilor Adam Roof, the chair of the council’s public safety committee, proposed the formation of a joint committee comprised of the citizen police commission and the city council public safety committee in an email to the full council Saturday.
The committee would be tasked with holding a forum seeking feedback from the community on police use of force and hearing reports from the police chief and police commission. It would also review the city’s use of force and police conduct oversight policies and “make changes so they are more robust,” according to Roof’s email.
Roof, an independent who often votes with the Democrats on the council, said he hoped all 12 councilors would sponsor a resolution establishing the joint committee.
“In cases such as this, it is incumbent upon this body to demonstrate unity and rise above partisan inclinations,” he said.
Pine said he thought Roof’s suggested ad hoc committee should conduct the review, as long as the committee also includes some community members. He said he thinks all 12 councilors share concern about the incidents.
Progressive City Councilor Brian Pine. File photo by Cory Dawson/VTDigger
“I can say that what we don’t want to do is turn this into a really long drawn out study process, and instead it should be focused toward getting to really fast action items and get into the issue of how to retrain our officers because the current training they are getting is not serving us well,” he said.
Roof told VTDigger Monday that he was concerned by the officers’ conduct in the videos and that he thought a thorough public review of the department’s policies was necessary before moving forward with any substantive changes.
“We have a police chief who is very good on these issues,” Roof said. “But that doesn’t mean you might not still have issues in the department.”
Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement Monday that he supported a city council review, and that 21st century policing has been one of his top priorities as mayor.
“I am confident that a Council review will find both numerous areas where we have implemented innovations and reforms in recent years that are among the most progressive in the country, and areas where there is additional work to be done,” he said. “I look forward to working with the Council, police department, and community to ensure that our policing policies, practices, and oversight reflect the values of our City.”
Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
The department’s current use of force policy states that officers must consider four factors when determining if use of force is necessary.
The factors are: “the seriousness of the offense the officer suspects when the force option is employed; whether or not the subject poses an immediate physical threat to the officer or others and the degree of that threat; whether the subject is actively resisting or attempting to evade arrest by flight; whether the totality of the circumstances justify the Officer’s response.”
Del Pozo said at the council’s April 29 meeting the department’s training has outpaced the writing of the policy and the department had a need to revisit it.
“We are finding ourselves in situations sometimes where officers act outside of the guidance of their training, but we can’t take affirmative action because the policy hasn’t been updated,” del Pozo said.
Del Pozo told VTDigger Monday that he thought a review of the policy would help ensure the department’s policies are as up to date as possible, and ensure that the council, public and department are on the same page.
Del Pozo said that he thought the department’s expectation of its officers to de-escalate situations is clear in its training. But he said the policy could better communicate the department’s values to the public by explicitly emphasizing de-escalation and the value of human life.
Burlington City Councilor Franklin Paulino. Photo by Sophie MacMillan/VTDigger
“Incidents like this are very infrequent, but when they happen they are very impactful and we need to take them really seriously,” he said. “They don’t constitute a pattern or a trend, but in and of themselves they need to be taken seriously.”
Councilor Joan Shannon said she has a lot of confidence in del Pozo and that a review of the policy is in line with what he suggested at the last council meeting.
“I think there’s a high level of public concern and there’s good reason for the council to demonstrate that we are serious about oversight,” Shannon said. “There is oversight in place, but as the elected officials, I think it’s important we are participating in that.”
Councilor Franklin Paulino, a Democrat and a deputy state’s attorney, has recused himself from the council’s discussion of the Douglas Kilburn case because of his professional conflict.
Paulino said that because his office’s involvement in the other relevant cases is closed, he does not see a conflict because the council’s upcoming discussions are about oversight and accountability.
“I think our community deserves some answers to ensure that we’re using the best generally accepted police practices,” he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington city councilors call for review of police use of force policy.