“I wonder why this happened, why we got this guy, why the mayor was so anxious to push this through,” Baird said at a meeting at the Peace & Justice Center in Burlington.
Two weeks after the Burlington City Council unanimously confirmed Brandon del Pozo as the city’s new police chief, some residents remain infuriated at a process they say was rushed, ignored their concerns and leaves them mistrustful.
Del Pozo, 40, was chosen after a months-long search involving a field of about 30 candidates seeking to succeed retiring chief Michael Schirling. Del Pozo is slated to start work September 1. Del Pozo has spent his 18-year career with the New York City Police Department. That raised suspicion among some about whether he was part of controversial NYPD practices over the years.
As those concerns arose, requests that the council delay its July 13 vote went unheeded, said Mark Hughes of Cabot. “Honestly, I smell a rat,” Hughes said.
A graduate school paper del Pozo wrote on racial profiling surfaced the day after Mayor Miro Weinberger announced del Pozo was his choice. The paper, and other questions, caused some question del Pozo’s views.
Some in attendance Monday night wanted the city to reopen the search process, but they quickly acknowledged that was unlikely. They settled on breaking up into groups to discuss ideas. One subgroup planned to look into whether the city followed the hiring process to the letter of the law. Another agreed to push for more diversity training for police and city officials. Another group planned to monitor police behavior. Baird criticized the appointed city police commission as an ineffective overseer. “They’re all mouthpieces for police,” she said.
Her concerns precede del Pozo, she said, citing a 2012 protest in which Burlington police fired rubber bullets and pepper spray at protesters. She also cited a no-trespassing ordinance on Church Street that she is challenging in court as an indication of the city’s willingness to give police too much power.
“I’m done trusting people in positions of power,” said FaRied Munarsyah, who argued that the search process was conducted by insiders and not as well publicized as a typical winter parking ban.
As the audience listed complaints, Burlington Councilor Sara Giannoni (P-Ward 3) stood at the front of the room, keeping track of their comments on a white board. The only council member there, she was straddling an uncomfortable line.
Newly elected to the council in March, Giannoni was on the committee that chose del Pozo as the city’s next police chief. She had thought he was a terrific candidate, chosen through a sound process. Then the public unleashed a torrent of complaints and Giannoni began to feel the process wasn’t that terrific after all. She asked if the council could delay its vote to give the public more opportunity to be heard. When that didn’t happen she joined in the 11-0 vote to confirm del Pozo’s appointment.
Since then, Giannoni has been hearing from a stream of critics. At Monday night’s meeting, she was the target of some of the group’s comments. “It’s intense,” Giannoni said afterward.
“The city council — how could you vote unanimously?” asked Hughes.
As the meeting wrapped up, Hughes hugged Giannoni. “Just you being here says everything,” he said.
Giannoni told the group that the council’s public safety committee, which she chairs, will hold public meetings with del Pozo in the coming weeks.
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That does seem really strange, of all the police departments from which to choose we end up with a career veteran NYPD to lead Burlington?
I guess if he is here to do everything the opposite of they way NYPD would do it, then that might work.
But seriously, WTF?
Police agencies exist to maintain and protect the power status-quo. Unless efforts for civilian oversight included people from all of Burlington’s walks of life this will be meaningless.
I will not be surprised if Miro/del Pozo come out in support of it only to quiet critics and water any oversight panel down with power elite supporters of police practices.
We should never hire outside of our communities and stop with the PTSD soldiers. Hiring outside the community is not a thing that should ever be done.
“I’m done trusting people in positions of power,” said a person demanding a position of power.
To anyone claiming that the Prog-majority City Council did not thoroughly consider alternatives, do their homework and vet this candidate, please see City Councilor Max Tracy’s very articulate responses on his facebook page. Max stands by the decision to hire del Pozo, which is a pretty substantial Progressive endorsement in my book.
Ah! No surprises here to see business owner Benjy “Skinny Pancake” Adler responding in favor of Miro/del Pozo and city policy. After all, his friend and fellow Business-Party Member – the Mayor – backed his gambit to underpay contracted-to-the-city employees at the airport branch of his eatery. The status quo circles its wagons!
Oh, BTVresident84…I am not a friend of the Mayor. Anyone who knows either of us well will tell you that. I am not paying “contracted-to-the-city employees” at all, let alone underpaying them. And I’m not defending the choice to hire del Pozo. I’m defending the City Council’s work in making the decision, which was articulately outlined by a very Progressive councilor…and that was my only point.
benjyadler – I’m surprised, I guess, you don’t consider Miro a friend after all the friendly support he gave your business (see my last comment). Ah, well, you and I define friendship differently, as I’m certain we define “underpaying” differently too. Though having the Mayor on your side certainly gives your definition more political, if not moral, heft.
As far as del Pozo goes, you stand with one power player’s “very articulate” endorsement over the thoughtful and legitimate concerns of the larger public. So, as I said before, unsurprised.
Del Pozo may very well turn out to be a good police chief. I hope he does.
But I don’t know how anyone can defend a hiring process that left the Mayor and the hiring committee blindslided about a potentially controversial piece of writing about important law enforcement policy (racial profiling) authored by the candidate. (Or struggling to answer basic questions about the candidate’s role in NYPD practices that involved surveillance of Muslim residents, institutions and neighborhoods.)
Others found the published piece as soon as del Pozo’s name was announced with a very basic web search for his name — the fact that the Mayor’s office and the hiring committee didn’t even seem to know how to (or couldn’t bothered to) use Google should be understood as a significant oversight and a major embarrassment to the entire process.
Given that, it is no wonder that some Burlington citizens question the entire process, viewing it as rushed and inadequate.
Citizen oversight is long overdue. City commissioners are currently appointed by the mayor and approved by the council–so not exactly proof against the same groupthink that led to this sheep-farm of a decision on our new chief. email rachel@pjcvt.org if you want to get on the email list.
For decades, British beat cops were unarmed, requiring them to know and bond with the community they served. Such a policy puts pressure on police walking a beat to have social work knowledge sufficient to deal with runaway kids, alcoholics and drug abusers, the homeless, victims of partner abuse, the mentally deranged, and the suicidal. Such public officials can help to knit together a community with intimate knowledge of its problems and the trust of its residents. Such a policy casts police/resident interaction on a more dignified, equal, and reasonable basis while interaction with an armed officer tends to be characterized by aggression, formality, and tension. Armed response teams remain in back-up status in such a system.
Let’s have Burlington take the lead in demilitarizing the city police as well as campus police. Let them lay down their guns and acquire the training and personnel development that would make their jobs more interesting and rewarding. Does this require a different police chief? It might well require a more innovative police commission and college administrations..
As context for Charles S’s comments about British unarmed police, consider the figures presented in a recent Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/ju…
An example of what you will find here: In England & Wales, there have been 55 fatal police shootings in the LAST 24 YEARS, while in the US, there were 59 fatal police shootings in the first 24 DAYS OF 2015.
Just some helpful advice to Councilor Sara Giannoni , ignore the lunatic fringe from the left . They may be loud but they are impotent and represent very few . I’d give the same advice to reps in others states to ignore the lunatic fringe from the right but since this is Vermont my advice is to disregard the lefties..