Committee to Review Policing Policies — Burlington, VT
Date: 2019-10-29
Time: 12:00

October 29, 2019
 Committee to Review Policing Policies


@ Click here to view the minutes for this meeting
1. Agenda

 1.01 Adopt/Amend the Agenda



2. Public Forum

 2.01 Public Forum



3. Deliberative

 3.01 Approval of Minutes


 2 Committee to Review Policing DRAFT Minutes
 10.15.19.docx



4. Communication

 4.01 BPD Presentation on Use of Force (continued)


 4.02 Discussion - Recommendations on Recruitment & Training


 4.03 Discussion - Use of Consultants


 4.04 Discussion - Listening Sessions


 4.05 Discussion - Seven Days Article "Force Reboot"


 4.06 Next Mtg Agenda Items & Date



5. Adjournment

 5.01 Adjournment




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 Committee to Review Policing Policies




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Committee to Review Policing Policies
 10/29/2019



Committee to Review Policing Practices

Community Room @ BPD

Tuesday, October 29th, 2019



Members present: Chief of Staff Jordan Redell, Deputy Chief Jon Murad, Officer Vinny Ross, Police Commissioner Randall
Harp, Police Commissioner Jabulani Gamache, City Counselor Joan Shannon, Councilor Perri Freeman, Jim Dunn, Melo
Grant, Vice-Chair Skyler Nash, Thomas Nececkas and Carter Neubiser.

Present by phone: Kevin Rodgers after agenda item 1.0

Members Absent: Sgt. Jesse Namdar

Staff present: City Attorney Eileen Blackwood,

Public present and participating: Corporal Jamie Morris, Corporal Dave Clements



  1. Call to Order

Chair Randall Harp called the meeting to order at 5:55 PM




1.0 Agenda – Additions or Modifications


Motion by Carter, second by Perri, to amend the agenda to switch 4.05 with 4.03.

VOTING: Unanimous; motion carried.



Motion by Joan, second by Melo to adopt agenda as amended.

VOTING: Unanimous; motion carried.




2.01 Public Forum



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No speakers.



3.01 Approval of Minutes of 10/15/19



Motion by Vinny, second by Jordan to approve minutes.

VOTING: Unanimous; motion carried




4.01 BPD Presentation on Use of Force (continued)



Officers Clements and Morris completed the Power Point presentation on Use of Force training, including questions and
discussion by Committee members.



Officer Clements offered to be available to any member of the Committee with further questions. The presentation
concluded at 7:25 pm.



4.02 Discussion: Recommendations on Recruitment & Training.



Chair Harp indicated that given the time, this topic will wait for next meeting.



4.03 Discussion: Seven Days Article “Force Reboot”:



Some Committee members expressed concerns about the Seven Days Article, and there was discussion about whether to
invite Officer Gilligan, the union president, to come to talk to the Committee and whether to conduct a survey of the union
members.



Motion by Melo, second by Carter to ask Officer Gilligan to come in and discuss the article and to conduct survey of
officers. By Melo, second by Carter

After discussion, the movant and seconder agreed to divide the question into two separate questions.



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Motion to ask Officer Gilligan to come in and discuss the article.

VOTING: Because the vote was not unanimous and a member was attending by phone, a roll call vote was taken (by
going around the room):

 Rodgers yes

 Shannon no

 Freeman yes

 Dunn no

 Redell abstained

 Gamache no

 Nash yes

 Harp no

 Murad no

 Neubiser yes

 Ross yes

 Grant yes

 Nececkas abstained



 6 yes, 5 no, 2 abstentions. Motion failed to obtain a majority.



Second half of divided question was withdrawn, as it was decided that Officer Ross would informally discuss with the union
its willingness to have officers participate in a survey, the Committee would review the survey questions and results that
were conducted last year by BPD, and the issue would be discussed next meeting.



4.04 Discussion: Listening Sessions



Chair Harp indicated this topic would wait until next meeting, as this meeting was already past its scheduled end time.



4.05 Discussion: Use of Consultants

Motion by Kevin, second by Perri to hire a consultant to develop a survey to understand the perceptions of officers in BPD,

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the perception of members of the community, and to move forward with listening sessions.

Motion by Rodgers, second by Freeman



After some discussion, a motion was made by Perri, second by Joan to postpone this question to the next meeting.



VOTING: Because the vote was not unanimous and a member was attending by phone, a roll call vote was taken (by going
around the room):

 Rodgers no

 Shannon yes

 Freeman yes

 Dunn yes

 Redell no

 Gamache yes

 Nash yes

 Harp yes

 Murad no

 Neubiser yes

 Ross yes

 Grant yes

 Nececkas yes



 10 yes, 3 no. Motion carried, and item was postponed to next meeting.



4.06 Next Mtg Agenda Items & Date



Topic for next meeting include:



Consultants


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Recommendations on recruitment, training and UOF



A data request was made to BPD: breakdown by gender and race of suspect of tickets and fines issued over the last five
years. In addition, how much the City has taken in or generated would be helpful. Not parking tickets, just civil tickets.



Members were asked to circulate in advance information, preferably a website, for any consultant they would like to
propose.



5.01 Adjournment



Motion by Perri, second by Skyler to adjourn the meeting.



VOTING: Unanimous; motion carried.



Adjourned at 8:16 pm.



Next meeting is scheduled for November 12, 2019.




Respectfully Submitted,

___________________________________________________

Eileen Blackwood

City Attorney




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