STATE OF
VERMONT
DEPARTMENT
OF PUBLIC SAFETY
VERMONT
STATE POLICE
Public Safety Commissioner, VSP Director respond to
prosecutor’s failure to charge offenders arrested in South Burlington
WATERBURY,
Vermont (Wednesday, April 22, 2026) — Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer
Morrison and Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew T. Birmingham today
issued the following statement related to prosecutorial decisions arising from
the March 11 incident on Dorset Street in South Burlington:
Chittenden
County State’s Attorney Sarah George’s recent statement just gave permission
for people at large gatherings to obstruct police officers and interfere with
arrests. This is a disheartening decision that sets a dangerous precedent.
State’s Attorney George has a vastly different vision from our own for what
public safety and the rule of law looks like. She has missed an opportunity to
delineate between the lawful conduct the First Amendment protects and the
lawlessness of criminal behavior that escalates volatile situations and harms
communities.
We take
offense to State’s Attorney George’s suggestion that state and local law
enforcement bear equal responsibility for the “unacceptable and perhaps
criminal behavior” that took place on Dorset Street.
Furthermore,
to impugn the ability of the police to conduct fair, thorough investigations
directly undermines all the cases in the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s
Office, which relies on the investigative work of police departments each day
to support every case the office is prosecuting.
The state’s
attorney’s failure to bring charges in this matter is likely to embolden people
at similar events in the future to cross the line into criminal behavior,
placing the public and law enforcement at greater risk of harm.
In fact,
lawbreakers in Chittenden County already seemed to know they can act with
impunity. Individuals at the Dorset Street incident repeatedly stated that
State’s Attorney George would not prosecute them for their behavior that day.
It turns
out they were right.
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