Burlington mayor names former state police commander Ingrid Jonas as community safety advisor

Ingrid Jonas, a former Vermont State Police commander, will serve as the Burlington mayor’s first senior advisor on community safety, according to a Monday press release.

Jonas was the first woman to attain the ranks of captain and major at the state police agency, serving for more than 20 years in various detective and leadership roles. She led the agency’s Office of Fair & Impartial Policing and Community Affairs and also became the first woman to lead its internal investigations unit.

Her experience “will be invaluable as the City creates an efficient, effective, and responsive community safety system,” Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said in the press release.

Public safety was a central theme throughout the mayoral campaign, and upon taking office in April, Mulvaney-Stanak pledged to make the issue her top priority . Since then, she has convened a group of community leaders to provide input on the city’s approach to public safety, according to a May press release . The city has also budgeted for the recruitment and retention of more police officers and hosted weekly “hot spots” meetings to identify areas with the highest safety concerns, according to a memorandum submitted by the mayor to the Burlington City Council on August 9.

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Jonas will provide guidance for those efforts and the city departments that run them, according to a job description included in Monday’s council agenda. She’ll be responsible for leading regular meetings with city staff, collaborating with the police and fire departments to track public safety trends, fielding concerns from Burlington residents, and more, according to the job description.

Jonas will bring experience with restorative justice to the role as well, according to the press release. Since retiring from the Vermont State Police in 2021, she has served as a consultant for many projects, including the design and implementation of restorative justice training for police and prosecutors for Burlington’s Community Justice Center.

Jonas’s hiring comes nearly a year after the City Council declared a public health and safety crisis in Burlington in the face of unprecedented overdoses, an increase in crime and high rates of homelessness .

Her guidance is needed now more than ever, Mulvaney-Stanak said in the memo to the council.

“As you know, Burlington’s health and safety challenges are complex and multi-faceted, and like you, my team and I hear daily from constituents with their pleas for a safer Burlington, about their concerns for those who are suffering, and with ideas for addressing our shared concerns,” Mulvaney-Stanak wrote.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington mayor names former state police commander Ingrid Jonas as community safety advisor .