“Getting It Under Control”; The crime fight in the city is getting complicated | Local News

ST. ALBAN CITY – The debate over downtown public safety continues in St. Albans City.

During Monday’s City Council meeting, officials provided an update on current measures to curb drug-related crime and curb undesirable behavior in the city center. And things are starting to get complicated.

Here are the latest updates.

Observe neighborhoods

After discussing the creation of neighborhood watch groups at a well-attended meeting earlier this month, Councilwoman Trudy Cioffi said 25 interested households in Ward 4 showed up at the kickoff meeting of her proposed group.

Meanwhile, the city’s Public Safety Committee — made up of Councilmen Trudy Cioffi, Marie Bessette, Newell Decker and Mayor Tim Smith — continues to examine various aspects of the overarching issue. While St Albans Police had focused on tackling the criminal element, Mr Cioffi said the council’s ad hoc group was trying to learn more about the wider social aspect behind the problem in the city centre.

“I think the more we can learn, the better we can try to make change,” Cioffi said.

These discussions include conversations with service providers who are attempting to address the difficulties faced by substance-dependent populations. Cioffi said the group is also trying to start a conversation with the Department of Corrections after hearing that people are being dropped off at large malls like Highgate Commons after release.

Cioffi said she was also involved in trying to address the city’s needle problem by literally cleaning up the streets with a dedicated group.

“We found a lot of trash, not a lot of real needles. In the last month and a half we’ve been doing this, maybe 20? That’s 20 too many, but it’s not hundreds and hundreds,” Cioffi said.

Public Works Director Marty Manahan recommended continuing to look closely at the city’s parks — Bartlow, Houghton and Taylor — focusing on the courthouse parking lot and the central area surrounding the parking garage.

“I noticed that the trash and cigarette butts in the city are just getting out of control,” she added.

Problems with the deposit

When St Albans Police began tracking the people with the most contact with police officers, Jenny Pecor was shortlisted.

City officials earlier this month called her arrest and resulting incarceration a step forward in the fight against repeat car thefts. Then last week, a state nonprofit — the Vermont Freedom Fund — paid her $2,000 bail so she could be released back into the community.

And since October 15th she has been in prison again.

St Albans Mayor Tim Smith named the organization on Monday evening.

“There are many factions against us as we try to make this city safer, and I would say the Vermont Freedom Fund is one of them,” he said.

Lisa Barrett, a member of the Freedom Fund’s steering committee, said her organization’s idea is that “bail should not be abused.”

“(Pecor) is a member of the community,” Barrett said. “We post bail when people don’t have money to post it themselves. It’s that simple.”

Had Pecor posed a greater risk to the community, Vermont courts could have made that decision, she said.

“No matter what happens, if she goes to prison, she will be released,” Barrett said. “Communities have to take care of each other or they’ll end up back there.”

After Pecor’s release, St. Albans police arrested her the next day after she was seen on video cameras allegedly stealing from apartments on Maquam Shore Road. Pecor has had 14 pending court cases in recent weeks and has been named a person of interest in 27 additional cases.

“We can thank the Vermont Freedom Fund for saving lives and impacting what we as a community want to achieve, which is to restore some level of security to where we live,” Smith said Monday evening.

“Welcome”

After flying near City Hall for nearly four years, St Albans City’s “All Are Welcome Here” banner has been replaced with a subtle replacement banner reading “Welcome.”

City Manager Dominic Cloud said he replaced the banner earlier this month as part of his duties to reflect city council priorities.

But the change sparked a backlash from people who feared the city had turned its back on a vision that was set four years ago, when the banner was first created and the statement was first adopted by the city as a corresponding brand that came with his recording involved efforts.

For example, stickers and bumper stickers were also made to be sold alongside the new banner message.

“The message ‘All are welcome here’ is part of the city’s efforts to respond to community members’ input, create a sense of belonging, and counter exclusionary speech with welcome speeches,” the city’s website says.

A lot has happened since then, including some changes to the Belonging, Equity and Inclusion Committee since its inception three years ago. Carl Watkins and Moira Jamieson-Brooks are currently the co-chairs.

“We recognize the need to address public safety and work toward these goals, but this should not come at the expense of marginalized groups. Removing symbols of inclusion is not the solution,” Watkins said in a joint statement from the group.

During Monday night’s meeting, Councilman Erik Johnson reiterated this point with his own statement after hearing from his constituents.

“It’s more than just words, it’s a reminder of the community we want to build and support each other,” Johnson said.

Cloud said it was not his intention to counteract the BEI committee’s inclusion efforts by changing the banner. Rather, it was likely a blind spot about what the statement meant to the broader community.

“The banner hangs outside my window, and every day we receive calls and emails from people telling us and openly asking us not to allow the city to be overrun by dealers, addicts and thieves,” Cloud told Messenger.

The statement “All Are Welcome Here” was also planned when it was first introduced because of its connection to a liturgical hymn, Cloud said.

As for the future of the banner, the city’s course of action is still being determined.

Cloud said he didn’t expect the reaction to the banner change but was open to the conversation. The agenda for next month’s council meeting has yet to be set.

“I think when you’re in a marginalized group, you see, ‘Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m not welcome anymore.'” Maybe not everyone understands this perspective. “So I think there is a need for more conversation,” Cioffi said on Monday evening.

“It is important for those involved in the movement for equality to know that it is in no way directed at them,” Cloud said.

Meanwhile, Cloud stressed that there is still a lot of work to be done.

It takes time to get an organization up and running at full capacity, and hiring new police officers from today’s workforce often requires a year of training before they are operational. Illicit drug markets also require careful, concerted efforts to root out and displace them.

“The common thread I see in all of this is drugs,” Cloud said. “This needs some runway to turn the corner.”

After speaking about public safety from a variety of angles Monday night, Councilman Chad Boudreau addressed motorcyclists speeding through neighborhoods in the middle of the night. After he called police about the disturbance, SAPD was too busy to arrive in time to address the problem, he said.

In response, Cloud said SAPD is making progress in addressing the overall problem and there is still much work to be done. But right now everyone at City Hall is working hard to address the problem.

“Everything we’re trying to do here — from the upcoming nuisance property ordinance to all the proactive work that Trudy has done — we’re trying to get the place under control, right? And that’s not the case yet… It’s going to take a year to get it under control and we’re a quarter of the way through that year,” Cloud said.

“We all feel the frustration. We’re all drinking from a fire hose. We’re all watching everything we’ve built slowly erode away, aren’t we?”