LEARN MORE ABOUT
Andrew Chalnick’s Campaign Priorities
LEARN MORE ABOUT
Andrew Chalnick’s Campaign Priorities
Public Safety
I am committed to ensuring that our community remains safe, welcoming and resilient. While South Burlington has been experiencing persistent and growing levels of property crime and substance abuse, there is virtually no unrelated violent crime in South Burlington. Recognizing this, South Burlington was named the safest city in America in 2024 and the 7th safest city in America in 2025. I was invited to the Anna and Raven show to talk about this and all things South Burlington. Listen to that podcast below:
What are we doing to enhance Public Safety in South Burlington?
During my tenure, the City:
- doubled funding for our Community Outreach Team (the Howard Center workers embedded in our police department).
- added a second full-time ambulance to address increased call volumes.
- brought online four new state-of-the-art dispatching stations for fire, emergency medical services and police.
- supported our Community Justice Center.
- brought on-line computer aided dispatch for our fire and emergency medical services that allows the City to better deploy our team to emergency calls by using GPS to send the closest available unit based on call needs and staff skills.
- to promote the work-life balance of our force and help our department attract the very best talent, modified the shift schedule of our fire, EMT and paramedic professionals from the prior 24 hours on and 48 hours pattern to add a “Kelly Day” (a day off) every 7th shift.
To try to address one of the underlying causes of criminal behavior, South Burlington has been a strong supporter of our South Burlington Food Shelf. We also partner with Common Roots, which in 2024 alone donated over $120,000 worth of fresh produce to the food shelf. The City provides financial assistance to both organizations, and provides additional support to Common Roots by providing access to farmland at nominal rates, office and kitchen space, and most recently, a new hoop house to expand their growing capacity.
With all that, it does seem like things have changed since South Burlington was named one of the safest Cities in America.
The surge in the use of opiods and illicit drugs like fentanyl and heroin has led to increasing numbers of people on our streets seemingly under the influence, along with discarded needles in our parks, on school grounds and in other public spaces. Shoplifting and break-ins are on the rise and there is a visible increase in homelessness and encampments. Residents are justifiably expressing heightened feelings of unease.
Our public safety professionals are increasingly called upon to respond to these challenges, as well as the related and often overlapping crisis of mental health. This growing demand diverts attention and resources from other important community concerns.
There are no easy solutions. Drug addiction and homelessness cannot be meaningfully addressed without significant support from state and federal partners, or without confronting the deeper societal inequities that contribute to them.
However, while broader change takes time, there are steps we can take to improve public safety. Changes at the State level should help our public safety officers deal with shop lifting and other property crimes. We should also consider strengthening South Burlington’s policy around encampments and increasing enforcement for drug violations around schools consistent with the enhanced penalties allowed under State law.
Some of this is already happening. The South Burlington Police Department considers school property, as well as areas adjacent to school property, educational facilities, childcare centers and playgrounds, to be “critical areas”. After dealing with immediate issues, officers will forward specific location information for any such sites to the Community Services Unit (CSU) supervisor. The CSU will then visit the area to offer services to unhoused individuals, work to move the individual(s) to more suitable shelter, remove the site and ensure site cleanup as soon as reasonably practical.
We will need the advice and insights of our public safety professionals to ensure that any further increased enforcement will be effective, and can be implemented with compassion for our most vulnerable.