Department of Public Safety briefs Senate Judiciary on staffing, divisions and lab capacity

Deputy Commissioner Dan Bassey of the Vermont Department of Public Safety told the Senate Judiciary on Jan. 16 that the department includes multiple divisions and is working to address staffing shortfalls while maintaining core capabilities.

Bassey said, "Department of Public Safety has essentially 7 divisions," and described the agency as having "a little over 300 sworn officers, and then a little over another 300 or so employees" in non‑sworn roles, plus about 200 part‑time individuals who serve in dispatch centers and special teams. He said the Vermont State Police is the department's largest division and that it currently lists 59 vacancies, which he said represents roughly 18.2% of the force.

Nut graf: The presentation outlined the department's organizational structure and near‑term personnel outlook as lawmakers begin work on public safety priorities for the legislative session, including juvenile justice, sealing of records and pretrial supervision.

Bassey and other DPS officials described the department's principal components and responsibilities. He said the Vermont State Police includes a field force division responsible for patrol and special operations, a criminal division that houses the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and technology investigations, and specialized teams such as bomb and search‑and‑rescue units. "The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the major crimes unit, the technology investigation unit... so many of our investigations now involve computers and phones," he said.

Colonel Matt Birmingham, identified in the hearing as commander of the Vermont State Police, clarified academy numbers: he said the most recent class graduated 13 troopers and that a current class also has 13 recruits. Bassey had earlier said there were 16 recruits in the police academy; Birmingham corrected that figure during the hearing.

Bassey briefly summarized other divisions: the Division of Fire Safety (inspections, code enforcement, fire academy and urban search‑and‑rescue and hazardous‑materials teams); Vermont Emergency Management (response, recovery and mitigation, led by Director Eric Ford); the Vermont Criminal Records/Information function led by Jack Wallen (records, background checks and criminal history services); the radio technology service (land mobile radio systems and dispatch phone systems); and the state's only forensic laboratory, led in the presentation by Dr. Trish Khanate, which handles chemistry (seized drugs), biology (DNA), toxicology and physical comparisons such as fingerprints and tool marks.

Bassey noted recent operational changes and workload pressures. On mitigation and buyouts following disasters, he said: "Since Hurricane Irene ... the mitigation section has handled 200 buyouts." He described a sharp increase in declared disasters in recent years and said Vermont Emergency Management had shifted resources accordingly.

On communications infrastructure, Bassey said the radio technology service maintains towers and the land‑mobile radio network used by multiple state agencies. "We have lots of towers on top of big mountains... we were driving up mountainsides with snowmobiles and ATVs and shipping ice off of 40 foot towers," he said, describing maintenance challenges.

Bassey also described administration and finance as the department "anchor point," noting the unit manages grants, including FEMA funds that flow through DPS to other agencies and communities.

The presentation closed with Bassey saying the department had selected a candidate for a new organizational post described in the hearing as a new division; that candidate was in background checks at the time of the presentation.

Ending: Committee members followed with questions about recruiting trends, academy class size and operational priorities; the committee paused for a brief recess to continue policy discussion later in the session.