BURLINGTON, VT - According to City of Burlington (VT) officials, Burlington PD officers didn’t violate rules related to the use of force or fair and impartial policing during a response to an ICE operation in the city earlier this year.
NBC-5 Burlington reports that Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak reported Monday on a use-of-force review and a Fair and Impartial Policing Policy (FIPP) review after the March 11 ICE operation in South Burlington. The outlet reported the operation drew hundreds of protesters, some violent, who attempted to hinder federal agents from enforcing a warrant to arrest an individual hiding in a city home.
Burlington PD and South Burlington PD officers were called to the scene to act in a crowd control capacity and to prevent violence from breaking out between the mob and ICE agents. Members of the Vermont State Police also responded to the scene.
In the review from the police department and Mulvaney-Stanak’s office, four allegations of officers’ use of force violations were found to be either “exonerated” or “unfounded.” The review found the officers acted within their limits as law enforcement officers.
All told, protesters filed dozens of complaints against officers, with four of those complaints specifically mentioning Cpl. Julian Gonzalez and meeting the threshold for an investigation. The complaining parties allege that Gonzalez threw protesters to the ground while deploying pepper spray on others.
Investigators reviewed police body camera footage, which again exonerated police officers. The report stated that the video footage either contradicted the allegations or showed no alleged misconduct.
While Mulvaney-Stanak defended the report’s findings, she equivocated, saying that the department’s policies “did not meet the stress test” of what she referred to as “the chaotic and unsafe circumstance” brought on by the incident on March 11.
“I know some may be concerned with these decisions. I want to underscore that our Use-of-Force and FIPP reviews are not the end of the conversation,” she wrote in a statement. “While I ultimately concur with these overarching findings…I am also troubled by the gaps revealed in our existing policies that were not designed for the growing complexities we are seeing in federal immigration enforcement.”
Of course, not everyone was happy, including a pro-illegal alien group, Migrant Justice.
“It’s unfortunate that the investigation didn’t conclude with the findings that were apparent to anybody that witnessed what happened on Dorset Street that day, who has seen the video footage in the month since,” complained Will Lambek. “[But] it’s not surprising.”
In other words, despite having video evidence from body cameras demanded by anti-police zealots, don’t believe your lying eyes.
Mulvaney-Stanak said she has asked Burlington interim Police Chief Shawn Burke to develop an after-action report and review department policy. City officials and police leadership are also likely to consider recommendations for additional officer training and clearer policies for interacting with federal law enforcement agencies.
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