An ugly racial incident in Vermont- and the state reacts with fury

[cali]

8. And there is a huge and dedicated effort to stop that.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/police-data-show-racial-bias-what-about-rest-criminal-justice-system#stream/0

http://www.zuckermanforvt.com/zuckerman-campaign-discuss-racism-vermont/

http://www.vtcucc.org/Uprooting_Racism_Task_Force.html


Driving up North Street in his black SUV the afternoon of July 1, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo spotted one of his rookie cops talking with a Somali American man outside the Community Halal Store. Del Pozo, dressed in his dark blue uniform with expertly burnished tuxedo shoes, pulled over and walked up to them.

Abdinur Hassan greeted the chief like an old friend. "Abu Zane!" ("Father of Zane!&quot he called out, referring to del Pozo's young son Zane.

"I was just learning about Islam," explained Vincent Ross, a lanky officer assigned to patrol North Street on foot.

"Are you observing Ramadan?" del Pozo asked Hassan. Then he added, switching casually to Arabic, "Ba'ad sitta ayoum, inta khallas, nam?" ("After six days, you're finished, yes?&quot

"Yes, yes, khallas," answered Hassan.

In the year since he arrived in Burlington, del Pozo has become a ubiquitous presence in the city, equally comfortable talking about Islam outside a halal shop, debating drones with privacy advocates or discussing film with a reporter.

The energetic Brooklyn native, an 18-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, was picked by Mayor Miro Weinberger to replace outgoing chief Mike Schirling. It was a controversial choice. Del Pozo endured intense grilling, but in the end he won over the city council. Even so, Burlingtonians may not have fully understood what they were getting: a chief with big ambitions to position this small city at the vanguard of American policing reform.

The Ivy-educated del Pozo is working on a PhD in philosophy and has a book deal with a prestigious publishing house. He's an "intellectual with a badge," says a New York acquaintance, writer Gary Shteyngart.

Hardly an armchair chief, del Pozo combines a philosopher's appetite for discourse with a cop's inclination toward action.

Since his arrival, he's put his department at the center of efforts to address opiate addiction and mental health crises. He has equipped all cruisers with the overdose-reversing drug Narcan. He's created new positions to address domestic violence and community affairs, ramped up online data and increased officer training and foot patrols.

Del Pozo's dogged outreach — he invites imams to lunch; he meets with antipolice activists and then tweets about it — isn't mere image burnishing. It's precisely the kind of community policing he wants his officers to master.

New Haven, Conn., Police Chief Dean Esserman calls del Pozo "one of the future great American police chiefs." Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a progressive policing think tank in Washington, D.C., calls him a "rising star" and describes his approach to policing as "iconoclastic."

Del Pozo has become a law enforcement leader during a particularly fraught time in American policing. Last week, police officers killed two black men — in Baton Rouge, La., and outside St. Paul, Minn. Then, at a protest in Dallas on Thursday night, a gunman shot and killed five police officers. The events brought the rift between cops and communities of color into sharp relief.

"Every police department is now inextricably a part of a national debate, and we're no different," del Pozo said during an interview Monday. "There's no room for complacency in American policing right now."

His conclusion: "I believe that, at the root of it all, communities of color and police officers are all good people, and familiarity goes further than anything else in bringing them together. Cultural competency training is crucial, but it's more about citizens and police sharing spaces and experiences day after day." He added: "We can accomplish that."

<snip>

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/scholar-in-chief-burlingtons-top-cop-del-pozo-aims-to-rewrite-policing/Content?oid=3476938

That's the chief of the largest "city" in Vermont. And recently, police and criminal justice figures, such as lawyers, judges and advocates met at Vt law school to discuss working on these issues.

We may be largely white. We may have our problems with racism, but there is a concerted statewide effort to face it directly and work on it. And don't forget, twice, Vermonters voted in greater numbers for President Obama than any other state outside HI and DC.