ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – St. Johnsbury officials say they are setting up a new public safety task force to take action on crime and other quality-of-life concerns downtown.
“One of my customers — she said she will never come back,” said Lynne Wykes, owner of The Rustic Chaos, a home decor and Vermont-made gift shop in St. Johnsbury. She moved her business downtown less than a year ago but says she’s dealt with numerous disturbances outside that led her to install nine new security cameras. She hopes a public safety task force will help come up with solutions to address the growing problem. “They leave a business, they come out and they see it. They say they aren’t coming back. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. You can have all these resources that you want. If they don’t want help, they are not going to do it.”
Officials say increased drug use and homelessness are the driving factors. Town Manager Chad Whitehead says a new city policy of removing encampments if they are in an unsafe place is aimed at deterring camping and getting help to the folks being removed. “We would then make contact with them — in partnership with Northeast Kingdom Community Action, and Northeast Kingdom Human Services — to try to help direct people towards resources,” he said.
The task force also plans to address substance abuse as well as other concerns like crosswalks and street lights. This all comes as St. Johnsbury Police Chief Joel Pierce says they have ramped up patrols to address the problems. “We are constantly getting complaints about what is going on. A lot of the behaviors are encompassing the groups that are down there pretty much daily, that we are dealing with something that is going on outside the Welcome Center,” he said.
The task force has already issued eviction notices and removed campsites deemed to be set up in highly sensitive areas.