Racial justice advocate Mark Hughes resigned Thursday evening from the Burlington Police Commission, citing the mayor’s unwillingness to terminate three police officers who have been accused of excessive force.
Hughes, founder and executive director of racial justice group Justice for All, announced his resignation in a statement sent to the mayor’s office. He said the police commission is “ineffective” and has not been given the power to make real change in the city.
He said the police commission, a citizen oversight body, has been blocked by the city attorney and the police union contract from providing true oversight. He also called the investigation into former Police Chief Brandon del Pozo’s anonymous Twitter account, which he used to troll a critic, a “failure.”
Hughes said the mayor’s unwillingness to terminate the three officers — whom protesters in Battery Park have been demanding be removed for over a week now — was the last straw.
“This is systemic racism,” he wrote. “The problem is not that this administration does not have the ability to take action on this demand. This administration chooses not to take action because they are unwilling to accept the cost of doing so.”
He also said there has been a “flat-out dismissal” of the protesters’ demands, a stance he called “hypocritical,” since the city government recently declared racism a public health emergency.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said at a press conference Wednesday that the city government doesn’t have the authority to remove the officers because their conduct had already been investigated. The Burlington Police Officers’ Association said it would be a “gross violation” by the city to fire the officers, and if they were terminated, the police union would take the city in court.
Hughes said neither the police commission nor the city council has been called to an emergency meeting to ask for the officers resignations or consider their terminations. “The mayor has shown no political will or intestinal fortitude to act unilaterally on such decision,” Hughes wrote.
Weinberger’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from VTDigger.
Read the story on VTDigger here: To protest mayor’s inaction, racial justice advocate resigns from police board.