Voters in Vermont’s Largest City Nix Police Oversight Board

Voters in Vermont’s largest city have rejected a proposal for a community police oversight board that would have had the authority to discipline and remove Burlington police officers.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, vetoed a similar measure in 2020. Advocates gathered enough signatures to get the proposed charter change on Tuesday’s ballot, but it was turned down by a vote of 6,653 to 3,864, according to the city’s unofficial results.

A number of cities have community oversight boards, but not many have discipline authority.

Supporters in Burlington, including Progressive members of the City Council, said community trust in police has eroded and greater community oversight is needed to restore and maintain that trust.

But Weinberger called it a “risky experiment” that would have undermined efforts to rebuild the police department.