By Kolby R. LaMarche

Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke, last night, delivered a detailed report on downtown safety metrics following multiple actions taken by the council this year.

The update, much of it covering data through September 22, provided a year-to-date analysis of arrests, incidents, patrols, and enforcement strategies, including data from years prior.

In July, as covered by BDN, the council approved a Democrat-led resolution to transition the free, downtown Food Not Cops lunch program – originally held in the Marketplace Garage – to City Hall Park. Food Not Cops, after moving, were joined by the People’s Kitchen, who provide free dinners, hours later, in the same location.

Seeing an increase in crime and safety concerns thereafter, the council in early August passed a resolution directing the Burlington Police Department to enforce ordinances against public drug use and overnight camping in City Hall Park.

Chief Burke’s report last night offered the latest assessment of those efforts’ impacts.

The report highlighted a significant rise in downtown arrests, with a record peak of 125 arrests logged in July, far surpassing totals from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Driven by heightened enforcement, the department predicts data to show a decrease in downtown arrests for the end of September, into the fall.

Drug-related activity downtown emerged yet again as a key concern, with incidents and arrests up massively from lower figures in prior years.

Chief Burke also noted for the council that in possession/sale incidents and arrests, excluding officer-initiated cases, the downtown core recorded its highest volumes, with the department confirming these months as the highest drug arrest totals in likely over five years.

Acts of violence showed some stability since 2023. However, aggravated assaults increased, making up a large percentage of the 2025 total, with a breakdown including charges like reckless endangerment, domestic assault-misdemeanor and assault-aggravated.

Calls for service revealed shifting patterns too, with disorderly conduct calls remaining around 400-500 annually from 2020-2025, acts of violence rising from under 100 in 2020 to around 150 in 2025, and open drug use calls climbing to an expected 350 in 2025, up from 150 in 2024.

Post-August resolution, incidents within City Hall Park dropped from over 30 in June to below 10 by September, with, noted by the chief, an increase in crime – and enforcement – in a surrounding two-block radius of the park.

Chief Burke reviewed frequent offenders, too, with the top 20 individuals accounting for 842 total incidents in 2025, ranging from 26 to 108 incidents per person, most with recent addresses listed as homeless or shelter/hotel and only one in permanent housing.

A median of six downtown arrests per individual was recorded in 2025, with several overlapping with 2024’s top 20 arrestees. Incident types included: trespass (28%), suspicious event (10%), disturbance (24%), mental health issue (25%), ordinance violation-other (13%), drugs (16%), violation of release conditions (40%), and disorderly conduct (37%), all accounting for about one-quarter of department-wide calls for mental health, disturbance, and trespass, the department said.

Enforcement resources saw a significant boost, however, with downtown foot and directed patrols nearing over 4,000 in 2025, exceeding 2,664 in 2024 and lower totals from 2020-2023, including contributions from sworn officers, CSO, and CSL/CARES personnel.

Chief Burke emphasized strategic approaches to repeat offenders, stating Monday, “Rekindling our relationship with the local parole and probation office in Burlington… it’s another point of leverage we can use, because they are accountable to what they were found guilty for.”

The chief also spoke on the ever present judicial backlog, and how long it takes to prosecute an alleged perpetrator, “We know that an effective deterrence model relies on two things… am I going to be caught and is there going to be a swift intervention… right now we don’t have that second piece,” Chief Burke said.

Councilors received the data without immediate action. Chief Burke shared his wish to replicate this data analysis on City Hall Park for the whole city, sector by sector.