Vermont Gov. Phil Scott recently announced Vermont State Police Commander, Col. Matthew Birmingham, will retire in August. The governor has appointed Lt. Col. Shawn Loan as his replacement.
Loan is currently deputy director of the State Police. He joined the force in 2007 as a trooper, and during his career has worked in the Narcotics Investigations Unit, commanded the Criminal Division and led the Vermont Intelligence Center.
Loan tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that he had been considering retirement, but he could not pass up this opportunity.
Even though I'm at the end of my career, I see an opportunity to do more. I've grown a lot over 19 years and I think there's things that I'd like to see the state police continue. We've done some really good work over the past 11 years under Colonel Birmingham and I feel like there's more to be done. So I'd like to stay a few more years and continue some of those projects.
Are there specific projects that you're taking a look at?
For me, investment in our folks. Trooper retention and hiring has been difficult since 2020. And looking at how we can bring people back into the idea of civil service. Getting them focused on becoming a Vermont state trooper, moving here, raising a family here, staying here, retiring here. So we've been looking a lot at education, leadership training, empowering our troopers to make decisions and providing them the tools they need. Which kind of leads to the second part, which is modernization. Colonel Birmingham, over the past 11 years, has focused heavily on modernization: equipment, technology, vehicles, even uniforms. So continuing that modernization project for me is another big part. And then, lastly, is really investing in accountability within our agency. So, using data to drive how we police and also how we prevent and then using that same information to help our folks do better at their job.
Lieutenant Colonel Loan, as you take a look at trying to advance those topics, you've also got a public that right now is not trusting police forces that strongly. How will that impact what you're trying to do within the troops and how would that perhaps ripple out to the public?
I really enjoy using data and data is a great way to provide transparency. So, being able to provide access to, for instance, car stop data, which we currently do but there's other ways to do it. Looking at use-of-force data, looking at the calls to service that we have, looking at our retention data and putting that to the public so they can see more about what's going on with the state police. So some of that transparency will hopefully help build public confidence and then also the services we provide. We've added embedded mental health workers into all of our barracks. We are using technology that helps manage our transparency, whether it be body cameras or our in-car camera systems, and trying to use all of that so that the public can see what we do, understand what we do, and feel more confident that we're serving their needs.
Colonel Loan, Vermont saw an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raid in March in South Burlington that created a lot of acrimony between the public and the police agencies: South Burlington Police, Burlington Police, and the State Police. How would you have responded if you were commanding at that time?
I was part of the command with Colonel Birmingham. You know, it's a difficult situation to be in because we work really well with our federal partners. We work with the FBI and the ATF, and DEA, and Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol. And we really tried to go into that situation prior to March 11th having good communications with ICE and the ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations)agents. You know, unfortunately, that communication broke down. You know, part of the primary cause of March 11th was that we weren't able to help create a safer environment. But the hard part in this situation is we're looking at keeping the public safe at the same time as being able to allow federal judicial process to go. And I think we learned a lot. And I think one thing that was interesting to me is after we released all our camera footage, I think the public also saw a different side of what the story was.
What is your long-term goal for the police force?
Some of the things we just talked about like using data, that's something that I've really been pushing over the past five years. When we look at policing a lot of times it's such a reactive position. We get called to a crime that happened and for the past three or four years what we focused on is trying to look at why the crime happens and can we prevent it.
Lieutenant Colonel Loan, Colonel Birmingham retires on August 7 and that becomes your first official day as Colonel of the Vermont State Police. How excited are you?
I'm incredibly excited and humbled and honored to be chosen to lead the agency. It's a great agency. Next year will be our 80th birthday. We cover 90% of the landmass and 50% of the population in this state for general policing services. So, I think we have a huge impact on the people of Vermont and I'm excited to be part of that.
A change of command ceremony officially installing Lt. Col. Shawn Loan as Vermont State Police commander will be held Aug. 7 at the Statehouse in Montpelier.
