My Facebook feed is feeding me lots of stuff about violence in Burlington, VT going through the roof. I’m curious what people in the area are thinking/ experiencing about the crime.
from PERPLEXITY
actors Contributing to the Increase
- In June 2020, the Burlington City Council voted to reduce the authorized police headcount from 105 to 74, leading to an officer exodus
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. - As of February 2024, there are only 69 officers on the force, with 56 able to be deployed as solo officers
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. - The drug problem, particularly fentanyl, is cited as a major issue contributing to crime
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Yes, I can see lots of stuff online- but looking for feet on the ground. When Aurora, CO came up most of us that live here thought the news had totally overblown the situation in what has always been a bad neighborhood.
I’m really hoping to spend next Friday and Saturday in Aurora ( HS state softball final 16 tournament- send mini’s team some winning vibes this Friday). And there was plenty of online resources that would tell you Aurora is a death trap dangerous.
Unhelpfully adding to the stuff you can find online, Burlington also has recently been celebrated as one of the safest cities in America:
Fentanyl is certainly a scourge in the Northeast, and I’m sure Burlington isn’t immune to the effects of it.
I’m not familiar with details of any downsizing of the police force.
I was up in the Burlington area about 8 months ago, and it seemed as bucolic and not-frighteningly-dangerous as it’s ever been. Maybe things have gone totally sideways in 2024, but I suspect that any such reports are probably overblown, and/or the relative decline in safety has to be considered against the fact that Burlington has been a very safe place for a long time, so there’s not a lot of room to go anywhere but down.
Not in Burlington, but a couple hours away over the border in NH. Read quite a bit of the VT news (in addition to the NH and Maine).
I’ve seen nothing that says Burlington is becoming over-run with violence. Does not mean it is or is not true, but if it was true, I think I would have either read about it or heard about it in the local brewery.
Violence does seem to be up, however, through out the area, largely due to meth and fentanyl, but nothing out of the ordinary. Hell, was a shooting just last night that killed a NH man and sent a VT man to the hospital (in Waterbury, I believe - tried to find the article again but no luck).
I’ll keep an ear open and see if anything starts being reported.
- Jeff
That’s one of the things I’ve seen posted that I’m questioning. Seems like a lot of violence being whipped up prior to the election.
I live up here, go to Burlington a fair amount.
Brattleboro on the southern side has a similar houseless and drug user population problem. But it hasn’t “ruined” the town. We walk with our kiddo in both downtowns to shop or visit.
Are there places you might try to avoid? Absolutely. Just like in every major city in America.
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I actually live in Vermont. I lived 20 mins outside of Burlington, VT for almost 20 years. Moved away to a more rural area in the Northeast Kingdome of Vermont in 2020. (before pandemic).
Vermont in general has seen a big surge in crime and downtown Burlington is no exception. It has indeed gotten a lot worse. I used to work on Church Street 2007-2011. It used to be very safe. But now there are homeless encampments all over the city including Church street. More gun violence and shootings. And lots of drugs. It’s actually shocking and so sad. Burlington did defund the police a few years ago which made things worse and now trying to re-hire.
And sadly the drugs and crime have crept into rural Vermont. Two larger towns near me now have a big uptick in break-ins and drug related crime. We have security cameras all down our long driveway. Drug dealers were actually meeting up at the local boat launch of a pond a few miles away from me. It’s insane!
Everyone is moving to Vermont since the pandemic. Are you moving here too? I can tell you places to avoid. I’ve been in Vermont mostly since the 80s. But have lived on the West Coast and Ireland.