By Michael Bielawski,
The Burlington Police has a familiar face in interim chief Shawn Burke who was with the department for two decades before taking over as South Burlington Police Chief in 2018. Burke has been recently in the media offering insights on policing and crime trends, especially the impacts of an ongoing backlog in the courts.
Burke will likely serve as interim chief through the end of this year, which is when Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak hopes to have a permanent replacement. Burke has already indicated that he will not seek the role.
This past January Burke gave a half-hour interview with the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce and he offered some new perspectives on what’s driving rampant recidivism for certain small-time offenses. In all, he shares his insights on several matters in policing.
Burke noted in the interview that a court backlog for misdemeanors means that offenders aren’t seeing tangible consequences and become repeat offenders.
“There has to be really expedient intervention by the court in order to deter the criminal behaviors,” he said. “So the calculus on the defendant’s side is ‘am I going to get caught? And if I do, what’s actually going to happen to me?’”
Retail theft and mental health
Often repeat offenders are found in retail theft. Burke said of South Burlington, “It's also an area where we're seeing a great deal of retail theft occurring from our large retail sectors both on Dorset Street and along the Shelburne Road Corridor.”
He later commented, “We have recidivists that are just ravaging particularly our retail community.”
He touched on the mental health issue as well.
“We're also seeing the acute mental health crisis in this state and the fact that the systems of care are simply overwhelmed,” he said. He noted that the hospitals “do not seem well equipped to deal with the volume of folks that are in crisis.”
Reporting fatigue?
They also discussed what’s being dubbed “reporting fatigue” which is when a retail company reverts to not reporting most or all small-time thefts.
“So those numbers are not even in the calculus,” he said regarding when people examine retail crime statistics. Retailers told VDC in the past that they’ve felt discouraged by the lack of a physical response front police.
He further noted that some businesses have dedicated “loss prevention” personnel in the stores. He said, “So they are actually doing the work and making the apprehensions."
Familiar problems in South Burlington
He described his experience in South Burlington since 2018 where he’s witnessed some of the same drug abuse and mental health challenges that are well-documented in Burlington.
“What we seeing are obviously the symptoms of substance use disorder,” Burke said. “We have a number of untreated and unhoused folks that are living in parking lots, living in their vehicles, and that's disheartening on many levels.”
Burke as interim chief
Burke started with the Woodstock Police Department for two years before spending 21 years with the Burlington Police. He’s been with the South Burlington Police since 2018 as its chief.
Early reactions from the public are a mix of enthusiasm regarding Burke being known as a reputable and experienced police officer versus the skepticism some folks have regarding the city’s questionable support for the department.
Tara Lynn of Alburg wrote on Facebook, “I think Sean Burke will stand up to them [police critics at the City Council/city administration] to be honest with you. He was always a good fair cop when I was running the streets to me anyway.”
Brenda Bradley of Milton wrote on Facebook, “He will be great!” Paul Kaigle of Fonda wrote, “Until Emma puts a muzzle on him.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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