Burlington’s police commission reviews police action during South Burlington ICE raid

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Burlington’s police commission met for the first time since the incidents of March 11th. The citizens board audits, reviews, and evaluates the city’s police department.

On Tuesday night, the commission grilled the interim police chief over the department’s actions and questioned transparency around body cam footage.

“We have use of force issues that the public has brought forth, we have video on Reddit that is publicly available that... whether what happened is right or wrong, it certainly paints the Burlington police department in a difficult light,” said commission chair Robert L. Depper III.

Depper III is the chair of the Burlington police commission. He questioned the chief why he didn’t reach out to the city’s attorney for counsel on the deployment. He asks because the commission has questions on whether or not BPD’s actions follow the city’s fair and impartial policing policy.

“Never in my career have I once consulted with the city’s attorney’s office. I think they might be puzzled by the question themselves... Am I happy about how any of this turned out? No,” said Burlington Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke.

The commission hardened their line of questioning when it came to asking about receiving body camera footage before it’s available to the public. Burke says without an officer’s report on the incident, footage out of context could be reckless.

“I’m going to continue to request that body cam footage, under our inherent authority, separate from the complaint authority,” said Depper III.

Commissioner Julia Ginorio had similar questions to the protestors. If BPD was there to protect protestors, why didn’t they intervene with ICE’s use of force?

The meeting revealed new information about commands on March 11th. For example, the chief shared that ICE was getting direct instructions from Washington D.C., and the use of force review will be released on or before April 10th, 30 days after the incident.

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