MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont law enforcement leaders on Thursday proposed to a legislative committee changes they say will modernize policing in the state.
They include requiring all police to wear body cameras and creates a statewide use-of-force policy. The proposals come amid nationwide protests over police brutality after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
The list of proposed changes is intended to be a starting point as the legislature considers police reform, officials said.
“America has experienced a tipping point in the nationwide crisis involving police use of force,” the document states. “Awareness and acknowledgement of institutionalized racism throughout the criminal justice system has likely never been at a higher level.”
In Vermont, much of the work on police reform has been going on for years, but “this is a time for police and the criminal justice community to listen to the concerns and calls for action and accelerate this work as rapidly as possible,” the document states.
The proposal was developed by the Vermont Department of Public Safety, the Vermont State Police, the state attorney general, the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police and others in consultation with community representatives of the Vermont State Police Fair & Impartial Policing Committee.
The ten recommendations also include changing hiring practices, modernizing training, ensuring allegations of police misconduct are investigated with transparency and consistency, and creating a statewide data collection system for use of force, traffic stops, arrests, mental health and related topics. Also proposed is developing a statewide position on use of military surplus equipment, and implementing means of providing community oversight of police.
“We will move forward together to ensure we not only follow constitutional, ethical and core values, but match the needs of our respective communities. At a minimum, that means working together with all Vermonters to end the pattern and practice of disparate, inequitable treatment of the people throughout the criminal justice system,” the document states.
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