Enough: We Must Do Better

Last week I proudly signed a joint statement with 45 elected prosecutors from communities across the United States to denounce the murder of George Floyd as a profound tragedy and an affront to justice everywhere. Prosecutors are charged with upholding justice and protecting the safety of all members of our communities regardless of the color of their skin, whether or not they wear a badge, or the neighborhood where they live. We joined together to say loudly and unequivocally: Enough.

Since then I have observed, listened to, and processed an incredible amount of information from around the country, across the State of Vermont, and from my own community. As the Chittenden County State’s Attorney, I am the chief law enforcement officer in the largest and most diverse county in this great state and my community, the community I was elected and sworn to serve, is frustrated with political lip-service and inaction. My community is telling me that actions speak louder than words and that the time for action is now. I hear you and I could not agree more.

President Obama emphasized this week that “[i]t’s natural to wish for life ‘to just get back to normal’ as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal’ — whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in the park. This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal.’ If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to highest ideals, we can and must be better.”

We can and must be better, but we must also do better. It is not enough to not be racist; we have to be antiracist. In the book, “How to be an Antiracist”, Ibram X. Kendi identifies important ways to acknowledge racism in order to change our horrific reality. I challenge all of us, especially our elected leaders and law enforcement officials, to commit to each of these:

· Admit racial inequity is a problem of bad policy, not bad people.

· Identify racial inequity in all its intersections and manifestations.

· Investigate and uncover racist policies causing racial inequity.

· Invest or find antiracist policy that can eliminate racial inequity.

· Figure out who or what group has the power to institute antiracist policy.

· Disseminate and educate about the uncovered racist policy and anti-racist policy correctives.

· Deploy anti-racist power to compel or drive from power the unsympathetic racist policymakers in order to institute the antiracist policy.

· Monitor closely to ensure the antiracist policy reduces and eliminates racial inequity.

· When policies fail, do not blame the people. Start over and seek out new and more effective antiracist treatments until they work.

· Monitor closely to prevent new racist policies from being instituted.

Meaningful change in the criminal justice system in particular begins with a recognition that our entire legal system is built on systemic racism and policies that perpetuate the same. Our system and the institutions within it produce racially disparate outcomes regardless of the intentions of those who work within it. Our system was built on the oppression and caging of black and brown people and was designed to preserve racial order and to keep them in their place. When we say our system is “broken” because it disproportionately impacts people of color we are wrong, the system is working exactly the way it was designed to.

We must acknowledge that systemic racism exists at a local level, even — and especially — in Vermont. Vermont is not immune. As a state, we have one of the most racially disproportionate prison populations in the nation when compared to our racial makeup; data has shown that we over-police, over-prosecute and over-incarcerate people of color. We know this and we can no longer talk our way out of it.

Since serving as the State’s Attorney I have worked to address implicit biases among myself and my staff, but have ultimately focused on limiting the number of cases our office prosecutes at all as a more concrete way to limit the number of black and brown people brought into our system. If a case must enter the system, we continuously strive to charge only what is necessary, divert cases, advocate for harm reduction solutions, lower incarceration and supervision rates, and eliminate the use of cash bail. Every decision we make has an impact on our community and we are dedicated to reforming an inherently racist system into a more restorative and just one.

But we can do more. We must do more. As action items that will not be just words, I vehemently support and am advocating for the following:

Review Cases Against Black Individuals

Starting immediately, I am dedicated to reviewing all cases of black individuals pending in Chittenden County to determine whether consistent decisions were made to comparative cases with white individuals. My office will analyze each case from the time the report was made, through arrest, charging, prosecution and proposed resolution to identify whether race impacted decisions made along the way. We will continue to assess whether alternative solutions exist outside the system to address the underlying behavior and repair harm for those involved and the rest of the community.

Establish Statewide Standard for Use of Force

Law Enforcement agencies around the State have adopted a wide-range of use of force policies which create confusion and uncertainty for law enforcement officers as well as those reviewing excessive force complaints. We must establish a statewide standard. Vermont is currently considering H.808, “An act relating to the use of deadly force by law enforcement” and H.464, “An act relating to law enforcement training on appropriate use of force, de-escalation tactics, and cross-cultural awareness.” Both are important bills but can go further. We need a statewide standard on all use of force, not just deadly, and we need the language to be crystal clear. California recently passed legislation to establish a statewide standard for use of force and although the final bill was an important step, it was ultimately watered down through the legislative process. I am calling on Vermont to pass a statewide standard for use of force that looks more like the language originally proposed.

Statewide Review of All Use of Force Complaints

The current system for review of these complaints is inconsistent, informal, biased, untraceable, and inaccessible. The fact that an officer in Vermont could have multiple use of force complaints against them without anyone outside their current employer knowing, including State’s Attorney’s Offices, is unacceptable.

I propose an entirely new system. A system that first mandates the self-report by officers involved in any use of force against our citizens to a supervisor or the head of their police department. Any officers who witnessed the use of force would also be mandated to report it. This system would further require that every law enforcement agency submit these reports to the Attorney General’s Office [AGO] for review within 48 hours of its occurrence. Once received by the AGO, the use of force would be as quickly reviewed, findings would be produced, and with victim information redacted, both would be made accessible to the public without having to submit a public records request.

Publicly available reports and findings would allow for transparency among agencies and accountability for the same. With this system in place, agencies looking to hire an officer from another department, prosecutors and defense attorneys looking at the credibility of an officer, or a community member curious about a particular officer, could all access this information easily and instantly.

Having the AGO do this review rather than individual law enforcement agencies and/or their State’s Attorney guarantees that police are not policing themselves and that State’s Attorney’s are not making decisions about people they have professional relationships with and therefore biases for or against. Further, it allows for consistent reviews, decisions, and if appropriate, prosecutions. This system would minimize even the appearance of impropriety and maximize transparency to the community.

Vermont Police Academy Training and Curriculum

The Vermont Police Academy is grounded in a militarized and outdated view of policing and has a history of pushing back against reform. They must be forced to adapt and create a new training curriculum that emphasizes community and relational policing by finding alternative ways to interact with the people they are sworn to protect. I am advocating for an overhaul of the curriculum and for the following eight policies to be implemented immediately at the academy and statewide. Enacting these eight policies together could reduce police violence by 72% compared to police departments that do not have any of them in place.

1. Ban chokeholds and strangleholds

2. Require de-escalation

3. Require warning before shooting

4. Exhaust all alternatives before shooting

5. Duty to intervene

6. Ban shooting at moving vehicles

7. Establish use of force continuum

8. Require all force be reported

Integration of these policies into the training, coupled with a curriculum that understands and prioritizes restorative outcomes, de-escalation techniques, and decarceration efforts, will have long term and meaningful impacts on the way our police officers interact with their community members.

Prioritize Limited Funding

The current global pandemic has placed us in unprecedented times. According to Governor Phil Scott, our State faces a budget deficit of 200 million dollars. Long before COVID-19 and likely more-so post COVID-19, our police, prosecutors, and entire legal system have been overextended. This burden has lead to unmanageable caseloads, the triaging of cases, delayed resolutions, unresolved harm, unheard victims, and high recidivism rates.

Police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and DOC personnel have long been expected to play the part of mental health workers, social workers, and substance use counselors. It should be no secret that we are not very good at it. I have been saying for years that we must fundamentally re-imagine the role of a prosecutor, but it is just as important to re-imagine the role of police. Going forward, we must restructure law enforcement, judiciary, and DOC resources and reallocate funds to educators and local community agencies who are uniquely trained in these complicated areas. If police could rely on those agencies to respond to and address issues of poverty, mental health, and substance use, it would allow for their resources to be better spent on crimes of violence and other legitimate threats to public safety.

Prioritizing our funding in this way would reduce police interactions starting in our schools and into our communities, especially those interactions with people of color, thereby reducing use of force incidents, reducing arrests, reducing prosecutions and ultimately reducing the number of black and brown people in our system and our jails.

This is the least we can do. Right now, these are just words. I expect my constituents to hold me accountable as it relates to these action items and encourage those not in my jurisdiction to advocate for the changes you want to see from your local leaders. Demand a new normal from your elected public servants and if they do not listen and act, work to elect new ones who will. We can be better, but it is time for us to do better.