As a candidate for Ward 2's City Council seat, I want to share why I don't believe Jon Murad should be appointed to lead the police department permanently on January 31st.
I believe we need a chief who seeks transformation, using public safety dollars to enhance a right-sized, accountable police force within a comprehensive public safety system. In a transformed police department racial disparities and bias are addressed, and even people with negative views of policing are valued and respected.
We need a chief who champions the reallocation of funds for social workers, addiction and recovery specialists, and mental health professionals to deal with situations police are called to respond to but for which they are unsuited. We need a chief who supports the reallocation of funds for health, social, economic, and education services because crime can never be eradicated without economic and health equity and security. We need a chief who understands that the community itself must be able to hold officers accountable when they break our trust to serve and protect us.
Acting chief Murad has not been this leader. People I respect who have much direct experience with him say that he has not addressed racial disparities in the department's use of force and is unwilling to acknowledge a racial bias problem in the BPD. I've observed no steps to build positive relationships in the community, despite, as I understand it, the police commission encouraging him to do so. He's selectively used data to generate fear in order to call for more officers. I believe he's fought the commission on oversight and I know he's opposed to a community discipline board. When I spoke with him about the officer hiring process he was defensive despite my simply trying to get information. His solution to our public safety needs seems just to be more officers = lower crime. This is simplistic, not transformative.
The mayor says Murad is committed to reform but he hasn't demonstrated this. He's not moved us closer to a CAHOOTS model and when the commission proposed a mental health summit to develop a "system of care" with the police and social service agencies, he did not embrace it.
I'm mindful, as Councilor Tracy pointed out, that Murad's public silence on a proposal to pilot an overdose-prevention site in Burlington is an example of how he isn't the "transformative" chief the city needs. According to Max, "It feels as though Jon has done everything in his power to stand in the way of progress."
Experience shows that when a person is in an interim position the worst aspects of their performance worsen after they're given it permanently. The best predictor of a person's future behavior is their record of past action. These past actions are why I do not support Jon Murad's appointment as permanent police chief.
Gene