Vermont council details April 2024 updates to fair-and-impartial-policing model, clarifies immigration, data and access rules

The Vermont Criminal Justice Council outlined April 2024 revisions to the state’s model fair and impartial policing policy at a joint Senate and House Judiciary hearing, telling lawmakers the update clarifies immigration‑related procedures, roadside stop data collection and officers’ obligations when federal immigration agents seek access to detained people.

The changes matter because the statute that requires the policy — 20 VSA, section 2366 — ties the model policy to every law‑enforcement agency in Vermont and requires agencies to adopt the Council’s components, submit annual compliance reports and post stop data publicly, counsel Ben Novodrovsky told the committees. “The statute is 20 VSA, section 2,366,” Novodrovsky said in the hearing.

The Council’s executive director, Christopher Rekheldin, described the April 2024 policy as the product of public meetings and broad stakeholder input. “This is a collective body of work that resulted in the latest draft of what this policy is,” Rekheldin said.

Key substantive changes - Rule‑3 and immigration status: The policy now states that citizenship or immigration status shall not be used as a reason to arrest someone instead of citing them, and shall not alone affect Rule 3 custody determinations except when citizenship or immigration status is an essential element of the offense. The Council said the language narrows earlier guidance that warned against presuming undocumented status as a flight risk. - Enforcement priorities for federal immigration crimes: The policy says enforcement of federal criminal immigration law generally is not a priority for Vermont agencies. Members “should not make warrantless arrests, detain individuals, facilitate the detention of individuals, or otherwise expend resources investigating or enforcing unlawful entry or unlawful reentry cases” unless 1) necessary to ensure public or…