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Mayor announces interim Burlington police chief, outlines recruitment and department priorities
Summary
Mayor Mulvaney Stanek announced an interim chief, Sean Burke, and a national executive search firm for a permanent chief. She framed short‑term priorities: recruitment, retention, workplace culture and coordination with criminal justice partners; the proposal for interim hiring goes to the Board of Finance March 10.
Mayor Mulvaney Stanek told the council she has selected Sean Burke, currently chief of South Burlington, to serve as interim chief of the Burlington Police Department and expects him to start March 24. The mayor said Burke served 21 years at Burlington Police Department and retired as deputy chief of operations in 2018 before moving to South Burlington.
Stanek described interim leadership as an immediate priority after current Chief John Murad indicated he would not seek reappointment. The mayor said she spoke with “almost a dozen different law enforcement leaders” in recruiting for the interim post and expects Chief Burke to focus on rebuilding the department’s recruitment and retention, workplace culture, career advancement, and partnerships with criminal‑justice partners including the state’s attorney’s office.
The mayor said the administration will present an interim staffing proposal — including a two‑year contract for Chief Burke — to the Board of Finance on March 10. She also announced the city selected the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to run the permanent chief search, citing IACP’s experience with executive searches and community engagement.
The mayor coupled the hiring update with broader public‑safety items. She thanked city staff and partners who run the extreme cold weather shelter at the Miller Center and said the city served 65 people the previous night. She reiterated the city’s 2016 resolution committing to immigrant and refugee protections and the Burlington Police Department’s “fair and impartial policing” (FIP) policy, saying the city would not proactively initiate civil immigration enforcement. Stanek said two federal grants affecting Burlington Electric Department and workforce development had been frozen, and the city is assessing the budgetary impacts.
Public comment at the meeting included a former community service officer who described his short tenure at BPD and announced plans to share further observations publicly. Council members thanked the mayor for securing interim leadership and emphasized the need to stabilize the department as recruitment and retention work proceeds.
No formal council action was required this evening; the Board of Finance will consider the proposed interim hire and compensation on March 10.
