Vermont State Police conducted eight internal investigations during the first half of 2025 and found evidence of misconduct in all but one of the incidents.
The agency publishes summaries of its internal investigations twice a year but doesn’t release specific details about the cases, citing state laws that limit disclosure.
All of the complaints in this time period were filed by people within the state police, according to the summaries. The report briefly outlines each instance of alleged misconduct and the outcome of the investigation, including any punishment.
Five of the instances of misconduct were allegations that troopers “neglected their duty” during a call for service. In each instance, the trooper received a letter of reprimand, and in one case the trooper also lost a day of annual leave for violating the department’s body camera policy.
In another instance, a trooper received a letter of reprimand after violating the department’s vehicle pursuit policy. In the final substantiated complaint, a trooper was suspended for four days without pay after violating “the responsibility directive as a supervisor during a call for service.”
The only complaint in this six month period that was determined to be unfounded was a complaint that a trooper allegedly assaulted a member of their household.
All of the investigations conducted by the state police’s office of internal affairs are reviewed by the State Police Advisory Commission, a civilian oversight panel. But its work is largely conducted in secret.
State police and the commission first released limited information about internal investigations in 2019, and then began publishing the biannual summaries of investigations in 2021.
