Burlington City Council has voted down the appointment of acting Police Chief Jon Murad to be the Burlington Police Department’s permanent leader. The vote was split 6-6. Public forum went on for over two and a half hours during Monday night’s virtual meeting. Residents, and anyone with an opinion on the appointment, expressed very different views in support or against the Acting Chief.Some who spoke out in favor of the appointment included Murad’s wife and former City Councilor Jane Knodell. People opposed to the mayor’s pick for the job were Sears Lane residents and a Burlington Police commissioner. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger on Thursday formally appointed Murad as his choice to head the department. Mayor Weinberger reacted to the city council’s vote early Tuesday morning:“Tonight, the Council missed an important opportunity to confirm a highly-qualified and committed permanent chief, strengthen our Police Department, and move forward on some of our community’s most pressing issues, and instead dealt another needless blow to public safety in our City. The people of Burlington, however, have spoken and made clear their overwhelming support for Chief Murad. I have asked Chief Murad to continue serving indefinitely as Acting Chief, and he has agreed. Chief Murad has my full confidence and I continue to be grateful for his willingness to serve despite the unprecedented and unwise rejection of his candidacy by half the Council. Chief Murad will be Burlington’s Chief so long as he continues to serve as a full partner with the Administration and the Burlington community in forging progress on our urgent public safety challenges and advancing police transformation. It is my sincere hope that at some point soon a majority of the Council joins us in this critical work.” Vermont’s largest city has been without a permanent police chief for more than two years following a disorderly shuffle marred with a social media scandal that saw two different police chiefs resign in roughly two months.
Burlington City Council has voted down the appointment of acting Police Chief Jon Murad to be the Burlington Police Department’s permanent leader. The vote was split 6-6.
Public forum went on for over two and a half hours during Monday night’s virtual meeting. Residents, and anyone with an opinion on the appointment, expressed very different views in support or against the Acting Chief.
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Some who spoke out in favor of the appointment included Murad’s wife and former City Councilor Jane Knodell. People opposed to the mayor’s pick for the job were Sears Lane residents and a Burlington Police commissioner.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger on Thursday formally appointed Murad as his choice to head the department.
Mayor Weinberger reacted to the city council’s vote early Tuesday morning:
“Tonight, the Council missed an important opportunity to confirm a highly-qualified and committed permanent chief, strengthen our Police Department, and move forward on some of our community’s most pressing issues, and instead dealt another needless blow to public safety in our City.
The people of Burlington, however, have spoken and made clear their overwhelming support for Chief Murad.
I have asked Chief Murad to continue serving indefinitely as Acting Chief, and he has agreed. Chief Murad has my full confidence and I continue to be grateful for his willingness to serve despite the unprecedented and unwise rejection of his candidacy by half the Council.
Chief Murad will be Burlington’s Chief so long as he continues to serve as a full partner with the Administration and the Burlington community in forging progress on our urgent public safety challenges and advancing police transformation. It is my sincere hope that at some point soon a majority of the Council joins us in this critical work.”
Vermont’s largest city has been without a permanent police chief for more than two years following a disorderly shuffle marred with a social media scandal that saw two different police chiefs resign in roughly two months.
