Burlington to deploy more cops downtown

Mayor Miro Weinberger June 2 issued a statement describing the four major elements of the city’s new public safety plan, instituted after public outcry over the rising number of shootings and other violent crimes this year and last year. The self-explanatory statement is printed below, with minor edits. – Editor

New Policing Plan: The City Center Area

We have changed the way in which our officers are deployed to increase the presence of police officers in the downtown. Too often, last summer, we experienced disruptive, intimidating and even dangerous incidents in City Hall Park and on the Marketplace. With a declining number of officers, the City struggled to maintain a public safety presence in our downtown Incidents in City Hall Park forced some youth programming to be relocated. And even while we continued to enjoy a large number of visitors to our downtown, too many of those visitors and female employees of downtown businesses reported that they felt unsafe.

Because more than 50% of incidents take place downtown, we are concentrating the most of our resources in that area. This summer, two Police

Officers and two Community Service Officers will be assigned to the new City Center Area (pictured below), which encompasses the downtown. Areas of proactive patrol and focus include the Church Street Marketplace, City Hall Park, the Fletcher Free Library, North Winooski Avenue, the Downtown Transit Center, and Elmwood Avenue.

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