City manager names Chief Breaux as South Burlington police chief; Breaux to start Oct. 6

The City Manager announced Aug. 1 that Chief Breaux has been selected as South Burlington’s next police chief and will join the department on Oct. 6. The manager said the hire followed a national search, a series of community listening sessions and an assessment center that included local professionals and panels from media, law enforcement, city leadership and service providers.

The appointment matters because the police chief is among the most visible municipal officials and leads public safety strategy and daily operations. "I selected chief Breaux to be the next police chief in the city," the City Manager said, describing a process that included five public listening sessions, a consultant-led national recruitment and interviews of multiple finalists.

In explaining the search, the City Manager said South Burlington uses a council–manager form of government established by a city charter (state statute) and noted that the charter gives the city manager exclusive authority to appoint staff. The manager said they convened a police chief advisory team composed of school, faith, business and service providers, representatives of Vermont Professionals of Color, law-enforcement experts, city council members and department staff to advise the hiring decision.

Chief Breaux, who did not provide a first name in the announcement, told the group he is "incredibly honored" to accept the position and said he and his family have long wanted to live in Vermont. He described his background as 27 years with the Dover, New Hampshire, police department, including seven years serving as a police chief, and said he holds a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a Master of Public Administration from American Military University and is a 2018 graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Breaux told attendees his primary early task will be to review how the South Burlington Police Department responds to mental-health crises, homelessness and substance-dependency calls, and then "fine tune" those responses rather than make wholesale changes. "My first course of action will be to truly dig into what how we're responding to those things, what's what's working, what isn't working," he said.

On recruitment and retention, Breaux said the shortage of applicants is a broader trend and that he will not lower hiring standards to fill vacancies. "We will hire people who are qualified and meet all of the standards to be police officers," he said. He said he will examine existing recruiting practices in South Burlington and apply lessons from his prior work but cautioned that a chief alone cannot solve statewide recruitment challenges.

Questions during the event touched on the police union's role in the selection process and labor relations. The City Manager said the police union remained part of the advisory process and named Sergeant Matt Plunkett as the union president present at the event. Breaux said he intends to maintain cooperative relations with unions and to focus on training, equipment and fair compensation to support officers.

Attendees also raised a question about Breaux's compensation; a commenter observed an apparent $25,000 pay reduction in the move and asked why he would leave New Hampshire, which has no sales tax. Breaux responded that, because of his service and age, he intends to formally retire from New Hampshire and collect a pension, and that relocation to Vermont with his family is the primary reason for the move.

Acting Chief Sean Briscoe was thanked by the City Manager for leading the department during the transition. "He is the decision maker. He is the leader of this department through the morning of October 6," the City Manager said, and the manager directed media and other requests to Acting Chief Briscoe and the city communications manager until Breaux begins.

Background details disclosed at the meeting: the city received 14 applicants, the consultant screened eight, the advisory team interviewed five, three candidates were advanced toward final interviews, and two finalists participated in last week's assessment center; 17 local professionals participated on assessment panels. The City Manager said the process included input from "dozens of residents" in the listening sessions. The outgoing chief, who announced his resignation in February, will be succeeded by Breaux in October.

The announcement concluded with the City Manager and Breaux taking questions from attendees about community partnerships, regional coordination with neighboring Burlington and maintaining department professionalism. The City Manager and Breaux emphasized collaboration with Burlington and other surrounding departments on cross-border issues.