By Michael Donoghue

Vermont News First

WILLISTON — Burlington Deputy Chief for Administration Brian LaBarge is the top choice to become the new police chief for the town of Williston, Vermont News First has been told.

LaBarge, a 21-year veteran at Vermont’s largest municipal police department, was one of two strong finalists for the post, according to sources familiar with the process, but not authorized to speak on the record.

The job will be going to LaBarge, subject to him coming to a final agreement with the town, a source told Vermont News First.

LaBarge has worked his way up through the ranks at Burlington Police and held various assignments.  In recent years LaBarge helped the department through some turbulent times, including going through four police chiefs in about six months in early 2020  and the subsequent police defunding effort by the Burlington City Council that cut about 30 jobs.

His assignments included a detective stint with the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations, the county-wide sex crime investigative task force.  LaBarge has served on the policy board for CUSI for four years.  

Friends said LaBarge has been preparing to retire from Burlington Police for about a year and has been considered for others recent jobs.  He was one of two announced finalists for the post of Milton Police Chief last year.  LaBarge grew up in the Milton area.

LaBarge served the country in the U.S. Air Force for about six years (1999-2005) before joining BPD.  He coached youth soccer for about nine years in Milton and St. Albans Town and has been a member of the International Chiefs of Police Association for four years.  

The other finalist for chief in Williston was an award-winning Vermont Fish and Wildlife Warden, Lt. Robert Currier Jr., the district commander for northwestern Vermont.

Currier, a 15-year veteran, serves as the head of the criminal investigation division for Fish and Wildlife for Vermont.  He also is an original member of the federal task force established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Vermont to combat the increase in shootings, especially in Burlington.

He was named Vermont Warden of the Year in 2016 and the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association named him “National Officer of the Year in 2020.”

In an interesting twist, both finalists are second generation cops as their fathers served in law enforcement. LaBarge’s dad was a career officer with Burlington Police and later was a supervisor at the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement Division.  Currier’s father worked as a police  officer in New Jersey, and after moving to Vermont joined the Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department.  He most recently was a Court Security Officer for the U.S. Marshals Service in federal court in Burlington.

Williston Town Manager Erik Wells declined to confirm the names of the finalists, but said he hoped to have an announcement about the new chief this coming week.

He said Williston received about two dozen applications by the mid-May deadline. 

Wells said the list was whittled with the help of the consultants, Jim Baker and Julie Scribner of JW Consulting of Arlington and the town’s human resources director.

A panel of community stakeholders interviewed five candidates and there were discussions with town staff, Wells said.

He said there was a second panel with law enforcement officials that screened three semifinalists.  Vermont News First learned the third person is a current Vermont police chief. 

Williston, which has a population of 10,100, has an annual police budget of $4.2 million to cover the 23 employees, including 19 sworn officers.  The department handled about 8,500 calls for service last year and patrols about 88 miles of state and town roads.  

One of the first jobs for the new chief will be to fill the vacant post of deputy police chief.  

The town is seeking a permanent replacement for Chief Patrick Foley, who has served for almost nine years.  

Foley, who announced his retirement in February, expects to wrap up on July 31 after about 50 years in police work.

He has been selected as one of the two grand marshals of the July 4th parade in Williston this year.  Foley, who normally is working on Independence Day and walks the parade route, is expected to get a free ride in a convertible this year.  

Foley began as a patrol officer with Burlington Police in January 1977 and moved up through the ranks as a juvenile officer, detective, corporal, and patrol sergeant during his seven years.  He jumped to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New York City for about four years.

He came back to Vermont to serve as police chief in Windsor from 1987 to 1995 before he was selected by the town of Douglas, Mass. as its police chief.  He served the community for 22 years before Williston hired him in October 2017.