New Burlington police chief will face tall order

Shoring up the beleaguered Burlington police department won’t be easy but residents and leaders said they are hopeful the newly selected chief, Anthony Geraci, could make headway — especially if he takes the time to understand the Burlington community. 

“It’s important to me to have someone who can really come in, do an evaluation, address this,” said Burlington City Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District), who was on the 12-person hiring committee. 

A 25-year law enforcement veteran, Geraci has served multiple police departments in upstate New York and held leadership positions in Watervliet and Newburgh. He most recently worked for a Texas-based recruitment firm.

He began his career in 1998 with the New York City Police Department before a stint of about 15 years with the Albany Police Department. He later served as police chief of nearby Watervliet and, more recently, Newburgh.

Grant said she appreciated that Geraci has tackled tough issues in Newburgh, a city with a high crime rate, and a department with operational and accountability issues. “So we are dealing with someone who’s not going to be faint of heart with regards to what they see here,” she said.

According to a public safety report presented to the Police Commission earlier this month, the Burlington Police Department is down to 54 officers and has 19 vacancies. It is currently looking to fill several other positions including community service officers and emergency communications specialists. A 2024 internal survey indicated the police department was understaffed and in crisis, with officers routinely burnt out and overwhelmed by a growing number of high-priority incidents.

Progressive Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak recently selected Geraci as the finalist after a months-long search. He is slated to replace Burlington’s Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke who has been serving since former chief Jon Murad resigned in April, 2025. 

The mayor declined to comment at this time. Geraci could not be reached for comment.

The City Council is expected to vote on the mayoral appointment on Nov. 9.

Mark Bouchett, owner of the Homeport store and chair of the Church Street Marketplace District Commission, said he believes recruiting should be a priority. “We have half a police department right now,” he said. 

Bouchett, who was on the hiring committee, said Geraci has dealt with the social problems Burlington is facing and he has “a lot of enthusiasm and energy.”   

FaRied Munarsyah said he believes the new chief should focus on rebuilding relationships with the community.  

“We’ve witnessed the way BPD operates long enough to know that it’s gonna take much more than a new chief to rebuild both the BPD as well as the public’s trust,” said Munarsyah, a city resident and co-organizer of The People’s Kitchen, a mutual aid effort that serves free hot meals and essential supplies at City Hall Park. 

Several residents, including Munarsyah, called for greater external accountability and pointed out roadblocks, such as the police chief having final say over the investigation, discipline and termination of officers. Voters have long pushed for greater civilian oversight but police and the union have opposed efforts to give civilians more oversight. 

Residents also pointed to a recent $150,000 city settlement stemming from a 2021 incident and lawsuit claiming Burlington police restrained and sedated a Black teen with disabilities. 

The Burlington Police Commission unanimously disagreed with the chief’s decision to exonerate the officers, finding that they violated several department policies in their handling of the incident. But the commission’s recommendations were rejected by then-chief Jon Murad, according to court documents.

“The community wants a chief who is open and cooperative with civilian oversight of policing,” said Stephanie Seguino, a former member of the city’s police commission and an economist at the University of Vermont who has long studied racial disparities in traffic stops.

“There’s a lot of research that suggests that civilian oversight has the possibility of improving police-community relations. And one of the areas that civilian oversight usually steps into is reviewing citizen complaints and having input into decisions about how those complaints are dealt with,” Seguino said.

Former community safety advisor to the city Ingrid Jonas said she admires the willingness of the new person to step into the role and hopes he will be given the opportunity to succeed. 

“I think he should begin by getting a clear understanding of what the community is dealing with in terms of public safety needs, and then taking an honest account of the department’s capabilities, just given the lower numbers, on record. And then he should make a plan to strengthen and or develop partnerships because that’s going to be the best way to address the array of problems,” she said.

Jonas, who was hired by the mayor last September, has since left. A retired member of the Vermont State Police, she said she helped start the Situation Table — a multi-disciplinary group including police, social services workers, substance abuse interventionists, and community members with different perspectives to collaboratively approach the complex challenges facing the city.

She said she believes policing can’t solve all of the problems Burlington is facing. Partnerships and a method to evaluate progress are also important, she said.

Catherine Davis, president and CEO of the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce, said an employee this week reported witnessing a drug deal across from the downtown office and that needles were spotted littering the walkway this week. 

“One of the biggest priorities needs to be hiring, recruiting new officers and retaining our existing officers, building the police force back up to the numbers that it needs to be at,” she said. “The demands being placed on the current officers who have stayed in Burlington, I think, are a real challenge. So I’m hopeful that the new chief will really be able to focus on that.”

She said she is excited the new chief has experience in other cities that can be applied to Burlington. Having someone new on board could also energize people to work together to make progress, she said. 

“I’m hoping that he can bring some fresh ideas,” Davis said. “In terms of advice, I would say really listen to the folks who want to help, maybe listen really carefully to the folks who might not want to help, and really listen to the officers as well.”

Patrick Brown, executive director of the Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center, and a longtime resident and organizer, also recommended the new recruit start with a non-political listening tour to gather broad perspectives of people across the city, including those who have led or worked in the police department.

“The mayor or city councilors cannot set the stage for him. He needs to be the person setting the stage,” Brown said. “It’s going to take the entire community, he said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: New Burlington police chief will face tall order.