BURLINGTON — A special committee established to review the city Police Department has recommended revising its use of force policy to make de-escalation a priority and to require officers to intervene when they witness excessive force.
In a report presented Tuesday night to the City Council by committee chair Randall Harp, the panel also suggested that the police commission have some degree of oversight over the police chief.
The committee was established in June 2019 after four African American men sued the department and body camera footage from the altercations showed officers pushing and tackling the men.
The updated use of force policy should prioritize de-escalation and emphasize that all force should be proportional, the committee recommended. The updated policy should articulate that officers have an affirmative duty to intervene when they witness excessive force and have an affirmative duty to provide care to those in their custody.
“The committee further recommends that BPD take additional steps to communicate its philosophy on use of force, including its commitment to de-escalation, to the public in order to promote community awareness and provide greater public confidence in BPD practices and in police-civilian interactions,” the report states.
Community oversight was the second pillar considered by the committee, and had emerged as a dividing issue on the committee. The report offers a number of tweaks to the role of the police commission but not an overhaul of the city’s community oversight model that some on the committee had called for.
The committee recommended that complainants be able to speak to members of the police commission. The committee also recommended that the commission have some degree of oversight of the police chief, that the commission be notified as soon as practical when there is an external complaint and provide clear guidelines for when the commission is notified for issues that do not have an external complaint.
The commission should also have clear avenues for communication if it believes the police chief is not properly exercising the disciplinary powers of the position. The committee also recommended the commission improve communication with the public.
“Given the Police Commission’s role in providing oversight of BPD, the committee recommends that the Police Commission take proactive steps to be more responsive and available to community concerns, and that the Police Commission have better communication with the public, especially when there are incidents that are of particular public interest,” the report states.
The council referred the committee’s report to the council’s public safety committee for review Tuesday night, noting that the public safety committee should work in collaboration with the police commission.
Harp said that the committee did not look into any other city’s community oversight models in detail, in part because of time constraints.
“We did have some discussions around Burlington’s model, and the strengths and weaknesses of that model, especially in respect to the matters that caused the committee to be formed in the first place,” Harp said.
The committee also required two-thirds support for a recommendation to make it into the report. The council acknowledged this meant some ideas didn’t make it into the report and requested a list of recommendations that were discussed but fell under the support threshold.
Councilor Perri Freeman, P-Central District, was on the committee and said her opinions often fell in the minority.
“I want to say loudly and openly I pretty frequently represented a minority opinion on the committee,” she said.
The committee also came up with a series of other policy change recommendations outside of the topics of use of force and community oversight. The committee recommended that the department create a policy governing the release of body camera footage and continue efforts to recruit women and members of minority communities to join the force.
The department should expand its social service partnerships, inform the City Council about incidents of concern and increase or improve the amount of anti-bias training officers receive, the committee recommended.
The committee recommended that the city, department and police commission continue the committee’s work on police reform.
“The committee believes that there are many ways that policing in Burlington can be improved, and that police-community interactions can be made more healthy, that this committee did not have the opportunity to properly address owing to time constraints,” the report states.
Councilor Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, said he thought the report was a necessary starting point but that there was much more work to be done.
“I think there are some great suggestions within this report, but I think it can go much further in terms of expanding community oversight as well as use of force policy,” he said. “I’d like to continue that conversation in hope that we can.”
Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, served on the committee. She thanked Harp and said she was pleased with the committee’s final report.
“I think the police commission, with the guidance of the work from this committee, is going to be able to advance a lot of the ideas that you were able to call and bring everybody together,” she said.
Deputy Police Chief Jon Murad, who was also on the committee, said the committee’s use of force policy revisions would make the department a national leader.
“That is going to be a significant component of what comes out of this committee, a policy that puts us at the cutting edge of where the country is for use of force policy,” he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington police committee recommends updates to use of force policy.