Vermont Department of Public Safety outlines staffing shortfalls, grants work and emergency teams

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison told the House Judiciary Committee Friday that the department is operating with persistent vacancies among troopers, aging communications equipment and a heavy federal grants workload as it supports statewide law enforcement, emergency response and licensing functions.

Morrison said the Vermont State Police, the department’s largest division, "are authorized for approximately 330" sworn trooper positions but that the force is operating with dozens of vacancies. "If I add them to the headcount, we are roughly down 45 to 46 troopers," she said, and noted the department recently sent 17 recruits to pre-basic training.

The overview placed those shortages alongside the department’s broad responsibilities: statewide patrol and specialty teams, a forensic laboratory, radio infrastructure and emergency management. Morrison told lawmakers the department now includes divisions for Vermont State Police, the Vermont Crime Information Center, Radio Technology Services, Fire Safety, Vermont Emergency Management, a forensic laboratory and a newly created Division of Animal Welfare.

Why it matters: The Department of Public Safety provides services used by every county and municipal agency in Vermont. Personnel shortfalls, aging radios and complex grant administration can limit the department’s ability to staff patrols, sustain specialty teams and maintain communications during multi-jurisdiction responses.

Most urgent details

- Staffing: Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said the Vermont State Police are "authorized for approximately 330" sworn troopers but are short by roughly 45–46 positions even after a recent class of 17 new recruits entered training.

- Special teams and USAR: Morrison described 14 statewide special teams (bomb/explosive, underwater recovery, crime scene search, HAZMAT, urban search and rescue, swift-water rescue and more) and said the urban search and rescue (USAR) team is roughly 90 part-time members drawn from across the state, funded largely by grants. The team’s captain, Mike Cannon, is the only full-time employee assigned to USAR, she said.

- Communications and radios: The department operates a statewide land-mobile radio network and maintains about 40 towers. Morrison warned that in-car and handheld radios are nearing end of life and replacing them will require "several million dollars." She also said a Public Safety Communications Task Force created under Act 78 is preparing recommendations for a future statewide communications ecosystem and expects a draft for stakeholders in early February.

- Grants and disaster funding: The department’s grant management office handles dozens of federal programs. Morrison said the department disbursed large disaster grants during the state fiscal year (as stated in the hearing: “we disbursed $114,000,000 and $95,000,000 in disaster grant funding alone”), and that the Grants Management team acts as a pass-through to local governments and nonprofits for some federal programs.

- Forensics and animal welfare: The Vermont Forensic Laboratory is the state’s accredited forensic lab and covers chemistry, biology, toxicology and physical comparison sections. Morrison said the Division of Animal Welfare was established in statute last session; the hiring process for a director had narrowed to a small set of finalists and a conditional offer was expected within about 72 hours.

Committee questions and discussion

Committee members asked about which functions fall under other agencies (Capitol Police, Agency of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles) and how DPS coordinates when local capacity is limited. Morrison and Deputy Commissioner Dan Batesy said the department often supplements local agencies but cannot replace municipal policing and urged collaboration on recruitment, benefits alignment and regional staffing strategies.

Morrison acknowledged the department has technical debt in some IT systems and said DPS is building a modernization plan. She also described creative uses of grant funding to support special teams and said FEMA public assistance can reimburse deployed response costs when an event rises to a federally declared disaster, but typically does not pay to purchase new major equipment such as boats or trailers.

Ending

Morrison closed by introducing senior staff who can respond to committee follow-up: Deputy Commissioner Dan Batesy; Associate General Counsel Tucker Jones; Mandy Wooster, executive director of policy development; General Counsel Rosemary Brettkowski; and a set of divisional contacts for fire safety, VCIC and radio services. Lawmakers said they expect continued briefings and asked DPS to return with details on communications planning and recruitment strategies.