Vermont State Police - History

History

Prior to 1947, Vermont law enforcement was county based. Each of the state's fourteen counties had an elected sheriff responsible for providing all law enforcement services to towns in the county without their own police departments. Opposition to establishing a state police force existed, partly based on the state's low crime statistics, a reluctance to add new state spending, and a suspicion of unelected centralized authority.

On the state level, only the Department of Motor Vehicles Highway Patrol provided centralized, statewide law enforcement services. Members of that Department patrolled the state's roadways on motorcycles enforcing motor vehicle law and investigating accidents. Infractions not related to use of a highway or the safe operation of a motor vehicle had to be referred to a county authority.

Communication with Highway Patrol members prior to the use of police radios, was accomplished through posting of signs in public places. This method of communicating required a strong relationship with the public that was being served. Highway Patrol Officers would call their stations for messages about accidents or the status of motor vehicle complaints when signs were posted. Today this close association with the public would be considered community policing.

The seed of the movement that would become a Department of Public Safety was first planted in 1935 when a special committee was formed to study the feasibility of a statewide police system. The results of this study were positive and support began to grow. The Vermont State Grange, at the time a powerful group, and many farmers were among the early supporters of a statewide law enforcement agency. The first bill to establish a Department of Public Safety was introduced in the 1937 biennial session of the Vermont General Assembly. It was defeated. The defeat of the original proposal has been attributed to lobbying by the sheriffs who perceived a loss of power and a conservative legislature with a tight hold on the purse strings.

The disappearance in 1946 of Paula Jean Welden, an eighteen year old female Bennington College student, resulted in changes to the attitudes of many opponents of the formation of a Department of Public Safety. Bennington county officials were unsuccessful in locating the student and were forced to call on State Police investigators from Connecticut and New York for assistance. Local investigators and the state police forces from Connecticut and New York were at a loss for clues in the case so the Governor of Vermont called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The case was never solved. This case, plus Governor Ernest W. Gibson's efforts ended a decade-long struggle with the Vermont General Assembly passing Act No. 163. The agency authority was constituted on July 1, 1947 and styled "the Vermont Department of Public Safety."