WATERBURY, VT — Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison and Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew T. Birmingham criticized Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George on Wednesday for declining to prosecute individuals arrested during a March 11 incident on Dorset Street in South Burlington.
The officials said George’s decision “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,” the officials said in a joint statement.
Morrison and Birmingham said George “has a vastly different vision from our own for what public safety and the rule of law looks like.”
The officials said George “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.”
Morrison and Birmingham took issue with George’s suggestion that state and local law enforcement share responsibility for what she called “unacceptable and perhaps criminal behavior” during the incident.
The officials said questioning police investigative abilities “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.”
Morrison and Birmingham said the failure to bring charges “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.”
The officials said individuals at the Dorset Street incident repeatedly stated George would not prosecute them for their behavior.
“It turns out they were right,” the statement said.
