Drug overdoses to stolen vehicles: Here's what's been keeping the Burlington police busy

As life in Burlington has changed over the past decade, so have specific public safety concerns in the Queen City.

Although never without crime, Vermont’s most populous city had a reputation of being extremely safe until recently. Within the last 10 or so years, certain types of crime and public health issues have skyrocketed, frightening residents and business owners and placing a greater burden on local police – who are already struggling with officer retention after the city council cut police funding in 2020 in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests.

What are some of the biggest problems Burlington’s facing these days? Here are the top public safety concerns that have increased in the Queen City since 2012.

Drugs: Overdose incidents on the rise

During his State of the State address 10 years ago, then- Gov. Peter Shumlin lamented Vermont’s “full-blown heroin crisis.”

In 2013, an unprecedented 81 Vermonters died from accidental overdoses. Flashforward a decade and that number has increased by 300%, despite relatively successful statewide initiatives to tackle substance abuse prior to the pandemic, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said.

In Burlington, those investments may have been responsible for the significant dip in drug incidents reported by local police between 2017 and 2020. However, due to the pandemic, such progress was short-lived. Drug incidents started to climb again in 2021 before almost doubling in 2022. Last year saw the highest drug incident count on record, surpassing the previous high in 2015 by over 200 incidents.

However, police have responded to far fewer drug possession and sale incidents post-2020. The massive spike in overdoses since the pandemic is the main contributor to increasing drug incidents. In 2023 alone, overdoses accounted for 430 out of 649 incidents reported by the police, or roughly 66%.

In an op-ed published in the Rutland Herald in January, Weinberger blamed Fentanyl and meth for substance abuse issues rebounding post-2020, describing them as “more powerful, less treatable, harder to interdict, cheaper.” Drugs like Xylazine have also become major societal scourges in recent years.

Gunfire

Prior to the pandemic (2012-2019), Burlington boasted an average of two gunfire incidents per year. Between 2012 and 2018, the Queen City racked in a total of 12 incidents, with zero in 2012 and 2014. In 2020, gunfire incidents jumped to 12, followed by 14 the following year. 2022 saw an even more shocking increase – 26 incidents. Although Burlington experienced 10 fewer incidents last year than in 2022, 2023 remains the city’s second highest year for gunfire incidents.

Gunfire incidents have increased statewide as well. In 2023, 86% of Vermont’s 20 homicides involved a firearm, according to a newsletter Weinberger released on Dec. 21. Additionally, while the U.S overall has seen a 6% decline in firearm homicides, Vermont experienced a 185% jump between 2020 and 2021.

Property crime

Incidents of property crime – sometimes called larceny or theft – were on a decline in Burlington for the better part of the decade, dropping from 2,982 incidents in 2012 to 1,544 in 2018. However, property crime started to slowly rebound in 2013 and once again broke 2,000 incidents in 2021. Last year, property crime incidents skyrocketed to 3,465, easily surpassing the previous record set in 2012 by almost 500 incidents.

Offenses of grand larceny – the theft of property or services valued at more than $900 in Vermont – and petit larceny – less than $900 – also dipped and rebounded stronger than ever over the past decade. Grand larceny in particular rose to unusual heights, increasing from 185 crimes in 2013 to 377 in 2022 and 345 in 2023.

Theft from motor vehicles

Incidents of larceny from motor vehicles remained steady for most of the decade, only showing a significant uptick post-2020. Prior to the pandemic, the highest incident count was in 2012 at 79 incidents. In 2021, the number of incidents was almost twice 2012’s amount. In 2022, reports of theft of property from motor vehicles more than doubled from the previous year, to 341 incidents. Last year, incident reports dropped but remained above 300.

Retail theft

Retail theft incidents stayed relatively consistent from 2012 to 2017, hovering around between 300 and 400 incidents on average, with no year surpassing 420. After dipping slightly below average in 2018, 2020 and 2021 (with a brief surge in 2019), incidents of retail theft rebounded into the 300s in 2022. Incidents skyrocketed last year to 827, approximately an 87% increase.

Stolen vehicles

Between 2012 and 2020, no more than 79 vehicles were stolen each year in Burlington, with most years averaging between 50 and 60 incidents. In 2021, police reported 137 incidents of stolen vehicles. That number more than doubled in 2022 with 341 incidents. Last year clocked slightly fewer incidents, but still more than 300.

Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington crime rates on drug overdoses, guns, theft, stolen cars