Editor\u2019s Note: This story by John Lippman first appeared in the Valley News on June 7.<\/em><\/p>\nNORWICH \u2014 Only six months into the job, Norwich\u2019s police chief suddenly resigned this week, the latest blow to a department and town struggling to fill positions vacated in recent months.<\/p>\n
Simon Keeling, who was promoted into the top cop job in Norwich in January after filling the position on an interim basis the prior year, informed Town Manager Rod Francis in a terse email on Thursday that Sunday \u2014 three days later \u2014 would be his last day on the force.<\/p>\n
Keeling gave no reason for his resignation, Francis said in an interview with the Valley News on Tuesday, though he added that it followed a phone conversation between Francis and Keeling earlier that morning in which the chief expressed frustration in not being able to get body cameras for his officers and the ongoing difficulty in being able to fill the vacancies in the department.<\/p>\n
Francis had appointed Keeling to the position as chief while Francis was the interim town manager, which struck some observers as unusual in that an interim town manager was promoting an interim police chief into the job permanently without undertaking a wide search for outside candidates. Francis was promoted to permanent town manager in February.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the U.K.-raised and -educated Keeling was well liked by many Norwich residents who had interactions with him and was following another popular chief, Jennifer Frank, who took a new job as chief in Windsor.<\/p>\n
Keeling, a Grantham resident, did not respond to messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n
Keeling\u2019s resignation leaves the Norwich Police Department, which at full capacity would have three patrol officers in addition to a chief, with a single full-time patrolling officer, a recently hired \u201ccommunity safety officer\u201d and an administrative assistant.<\/p>\n
The police department\u2019s staffing shortage parallels similar issues at the town\u2019s Public Works Department, which has not found enough workers with commercial driving permits to operate heavy equipment required for road maintenance.<\/p>\n
It also comes at a time when Norwich residents and some members of the Selectboard are divided over the future of the town\u2019s police force and whether the department\u2019s policies should change in response to national calls for police reform in the wake of George Floyd\u2019s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis in 2020.<\/p>\n
Several Norwich residents took to the town\u2019s Listserv last week to express concerns about public safety with a severely understaffed police department.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the school shootings, all the shootings in America, people are just very concerned for their safety, even here in a rural town,\u201d said Doug Wilberding, who grew up in Norwich and was active in seeing the project to solarize Tracy Memorial defeated. \u201cIt\u2019s really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police departments across the region and nationally are experiencing problems recruiting \u2014 the Vermont Police Academy lists 60 Vermont police agencies in the state seeking to hire officers \u2014 as many young candidates say they are nervous about law enforcement careers in a politically charged environment.<\/p>\n
And Norwich is now the fourth Upper Valley town needing to hire a new police chief, following Hartford, Springfield and Claremont, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Francis, asked Tuesday if he can provide assurances about the safety of Norwich residents given the understaffed police department, said he \u201cappreciates the anxiety that people are feeling\u201d but said they \u201cshould not experience any significantly less protection now than they have in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Friday, Francis said, he has been in discussions with police departments in Hanover, Hartford and Thetford about providing assistance responding to dispatch calls as well as backup from Vermont State Police\u2019s Royalton barracks for out-of-hours emergency coverage until Norwich\u2019s police department can get back its full complement of personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a change but not a huge shift from what we\u2019ve been providing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Francis said he could not explain the presence of an Orange County Sheriff\u2019s cruiser that had pulled over a motorist on Norwich\u2019s Main Street the other morning that was observed by several residents. County sheriffs have authority to stop drivers in counties other than their own.<\/p>\n
Demand for police services has jumped sharply in Norwich since the pandemic began in 2020, according to the department\u2019s data.<\/p>\n
Norwich police responded to a total of 3,477 calls in the year that ended June 30, 2021, a 69% increase from two years earlier, according to the Norwich Town Report.<\/p>\n
Larceny and theft calls increased from 16 to 32, trespassing calls doubled from 15 to 30, traffic citations went were from 264 to 328, citizen assistance calls rose from 74 to 86, noise disturbances increased from five to 13, traffic warnings went from 415 to 646 and death investigations rose from one to three.<\/p>\n
Having enough patrol officers in the department to respond to the increasing demands on police was evidently a top concern of Keeling\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Roger Arnold, chair of the Selectboard, said the board was copied on an email sent by Keeling to Francis dated May 26 with the subject line \u201cPD pay and recruitment.\u201d In the email, Arnold said, Keeling requested that patrol officer pay \u2014 which Francis said ranges from $21 to $24 an hour depending upon experience in the union contract \u2014 be increased to attract qualified applicants.<\/p>\n
But with the Memorial Day holiday, there was not enough time to get the item on the agenda for the regular June 8 Selectboard meeting, Arnold said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do agenda-setting as allowed by law over email,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cSo the timing unfortunately was (such that) we didn\u2019t have the opportunity to even consider it\u201d in time to place the issue of patrol officer pay on the agenda. And then Keeling resigned a few days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis all happened very quickly,\u201d Arnold said.<\/p>\n
As for Keeling pressing for body cameras for officers, Arnold said that is a policy decision for the Selectboard to make but one it will not be taking up until the money \u2014 which has been budgeted and approved by voters \u2014 is available to spend in the next fiscal year\u2019s budget beginning July 1.<\/p>\n
That budget includes virtually everything the police department asked for, including the \u201cfull complement\u201d of four officers and money for a new cruiser, Arnold said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe board supports the work of our police department, and the evidence of that is having \u2026 the budget that was requested of the department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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