BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The community academy that gives people the chance to look behind the curtain of the Burlington Police Department held the final session of its six-week course.
This was Burlington resident Ted Miles’ third academy—with this course, he was interested to see how policing tactics have changed since 2020. “Including some of the issues of drug use and the violence that’s been plaguing the city lately, there’s been a lot of focus on that from a police perspective and how that affects the people in Burlington,” said Miles.
Burlington resident Daryn Forgeron says she wanted to understand more about BPD, given the ongoing discussions about community safety. “To understand from their own lens how they’ve been working to change, adapt, and improve their policies, and also what training they go through. And really understand from a front row seat what they do day in and day out,” said Forgeron.
But she says given Burlington’s mixed feelings around policing, she wishes these academies and also further conversation could be more accessible to the larger community.
“So that we can show that we are hearing all opinions and having productive conversations, so that we can really address the variety of opinions on policing in our community that allows us to move forward in a healthy way that allows us to prioritize everyone in our city,” said Forgeron.
The Burlington Police Department holds community academies yearly, but participants must apply for a spot.