Vermont State Police shares data regarding uses of force

STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

Vermont State Police shares data regarding uses of force

WATERBURY, Vt. (Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021) — A new interactive online dashboard will allow the public to review data regarding uses of force by members of the Vermont State Police during the past three years. New annual data will be posted to the dashboard each year.

“Although uses of force are exceedingly rare, occurring in less than one-half of one percent of all VSP incidents, such instances are the subject of high public interest and deserve robust transparency,” Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling said.

“This dashboard allows us to continue our ongoing efforts to fully illuminate the scope of our operations, enhance transparency, and provide operational and public safety data to Vermonters with increasing scope and volume,” Schirling continued. “Police use force in approximately 0.3% of incidents that VSP responds to annually, but these are important events to report on. This data has been shared publicly with lawmakers and others during the past two years. At this stage in the evolution of our systems, we are now able to publish interactive versions on our website.”

The dashboard was created using data collected by the Vermont State Police with help from the Vermont Agency of Digital Services to analyze the data and develop the online tool.

People may view the dashboard at this link: https://vsp.vermont.gov/public/UOFdata.

MEDIA CONTACT

Interview requests may be made by email to Adam Silverman, the Vermont State Police public information officer, at adam.silverman@vermont.gov.

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