MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Vermont is getting what is believed to be its first Black police chief at a time of protests in Vermont and nationwide over racial injustice and police brutality.
Brian Peete, the former police chief in Alamogordo, New Mexico, officially becomes police chief in Montpelier, the capital city of the largely white state, on Wednesday. He was chosen before the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and is believed by the city to be the first Black police chief in the state.
Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling called the timing “fortuitous,” saying he arrived when “modernizing policing and confronting racism and bias in Vermont and beyond is so crucial.” In addition to his skills and experience he will “add perspective not directly available to our current cadre of law enforcement leaders,” said Schirling, a former police chief in Burlington, by email.
Peete said he’s encouraged and inspired by the protests – “it’s an entire generation, and it’s people from all walks of life, backgrounds, colors, everything that realize a need for systematic change across the spectrum.” Change is needed, he said, but he hopes the focus isn’t just on police departments.
Peete has been on the job since June 15 working alongside Chief Anthony Facos, who is retiring. He started two days after hundreds of people helped paint Black Lives Matter in huge letters on the street in Montpelier in front of the State House. The painting was smeared with mud, dirt and oil early the following day and graffiti was sprayed on the sidewalk that “referenced government spending” but did not appear to be directed at the mural, police said. Community members cleaned it up.