Fair & Impartial Policing

It is the policy of the Essex Police Department that the department shall not condone the use of any bias based policing in the services our employees provide to the community in connection with our law enforcement activities.

The intent of this policy is to reaffirm the Essex Police Department's commitment to unbiased policing, to clarify the circumstances in which members can consider race, ethnicity, gender or other potentially improper criteria when making law enforcement decisions, and to reinforce procedures that serve to assure the public that we are providing service and enforcing laws in an equitable and impartial way.

Data Collection

During the 2014 Vermont legislative session a new law relating to fair and impartial policing and race data collection was enacted. This law required Vermont law enforcement agencies to adopt policies and training based on fair and impartial policing. This same law requires law enforcement agencies to collect roadside stop data consisting of the following:

• The age, gender, and race of the driver
• The reason for the stop
• The type of search conducted, if any
• The evidence located, if any
• The outcome of the stop, including whether:
  • A written warning was issued
  • A citation for a civil violation was issued
  • A citation or arrest for a misdemeanor or a felony occurred
  • No subsequent action was taken

The law requires that these records be collected, stored and made available for analysis or public review by January 1, 2016.

Update

The reporting requirement has now changed and starting on or before September 1, 2016 and annually thereafter, data collected under this subsection will be reported by Vermont Police Departments to a vendor chosen by the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council (VCJTC).

The following is the current policy of the Essex Police Department on Biased-Free Policing. Also included are our Traffic Stop records for public review as required by this new law. These records will be updated quarterly by our department and posted to our webpage.

• Note - Some of the data in the tables contain values that are defined by the CAD/RMS (Spillman) software used by our police department. An index key is also attached below to define what each of the codes mean.
• Note - Per state guidelines, the determination of race is based on the "Perceived Race" of the individual by the officer, not by asking the person what race they are.

Additional Information

As always, if you have any questions about our policy, our Traffic Stop data or any other police related matter, please feel free to contact our office at any time at 802-878-8331.