(First published August 18, 2010)

Vt Views: I should just say where we are — at the Vermont State Police office in Brattleboro, with Lieutenant LaPorte, having last week had a conversation with the Chief of Police in Brattleboro — who spent some time describing what police work is these days, including digital policing. But you guys here don’t do any of that, do you, you just chase SUVs from Connecticut and eat donuts....

[laughter]

Vt Views: Glad you laughed, but for many people that’s all of what they see of you out there on I91. But I suspect there is more to it...

KL: Yes. There’s a lot more to it. [laughter]

Vt Views: I think what I want to do is inform people what modern policing is about in our region— and as I said to Chief Wrinn, Brattleboro often comes in the top 10 or 20 small towns in the USA, and I imagine the way they work that out on their rubric is that there is relatively little serious or sustained crime here. Since I just spoke to the Chief downtown and next week interview the Sheriff, what roles does State Police perform for our region?

KL: We have a slightly different set-up than a local department, in that Brattleboro Police Department is assigned a local town jurisdiction and they are responsible for that. Here our jurisdiction covers sixteen towns. Four of those towns have their own police department: Brattleboro, Vernon, Dover and Wilmington. For the balance of the twelve other towns we are the primary law-enforcement. We have a varied responsibility for the towns such as Guilford, Dummerston, Putney, with a different population than say, Halifax, Somerset, and other outlying areas. These are very different, not only geographically, and with population, and their needs are very different. In addition to those towns we do cover areas in Brattleboro on the Interstate. We cover  24 miles on the north-bound side, 24 miles on the southbound side.

Vt Views: That’s about from the border to Putney?

KL: Yes, the border to the Westminster town-line. We deal with that as well.

Vt Views: A big territory.

KL: With State Police there are larger regions of responsibility in Vermont than us, and man-power is divided accordingly. We have 3 sergeants, who are shift supervisors, and then we have 10 road troopers, divided into day-shift and night-shift. When you consider training and time-off, there are 5 troopers to a shift, and those are divvied-up according to our needs. Also stationed here is one plain-clothes detective, who is in charge of untimely death investigations, and some of the major crimes that occur in our jurisdiction.

Vt Views: Under cover investigations... some forensics...?

KL: Yes, a lot of work to do with gaining and sifting through evidence. But the road troopers are trained and are responsible for, if they see someone speeding, they are trained and equipped to manage that; if they get called to a burglary they are trained and equipped to investigate and process that as well. They wear a couple of different hats depending on the type of call for service or investigation.

Vt Views: Chief Wrinn spoke of our area being of about 40 or 50 thousand people, a big catchment area. And you have 5 officers per shift ...

KL: yes. And not every shift has five officers, we divide the 10 troopers between days and nights, and while there is never 1, there could be as little as 2.

Vt Views: And I suppose the terrain is a big factor, different on I91 than in darkest Halifax. Even though Halifax is just a dozen miles away, it might take ages to get their on dirt roads.

KL: It also depends whether you respond from the office here or if you are in the town of Jamaica and get a call to go to Halifax, it’s going to take a bit of time to get there.

Vt Views: That’s to talk about the roads, but do you go off-road too for such things as search and rescue? Is that a lead role for state police?

KL: We have what are called special teams, they have a special focus, different troopers have special training and expertise in certain areas. Our special teams pull troopers from different areas of the state to work together so we don’t drain a local shift, and to draw on a variety of experts out there who are not all in one location; we have a scuba-team, search and rescue, a tactical support unit more commonly known as a SWAT team, we have a bomb squad, crowd control, a variety of differing assignments, and team dynamics.

Vt Views: I asked the Fire Chief a question which made him laugh at me. I asked if it was a trend in the Fire Department to also play roles in the Policing or medical services, like in San Francisco, other large cities... is that the way the Fire Department is going?

Vt Views: He told me to look at his wall which was solid with manuals just to do with Fire. More and more regulations and training material all the time. He thought things were becoming more specialized rather than generalized. Same with Lew Teich at Rescue who said he had several specialties including high-tower stuff, to fast-water retrieval, and he also goes out with search and rescue sometimes.

KL: We work together on search and rescue, and with fire departments, and we have a dive team — there is some overlap, and things which work parallel if there is a missing person, we want to find them, fire department wants to find them, and we are interested in the investigation and they are interested in medical aspects, are they OK? These are situations where we work parallel — accidents too, often Fire will be interested in hazardous materials on the road while we are interested in the cause of the accident. There are times when we work together, and we work well together, depending on each other in a lot of cases.

Vt Views: I heard from Rescue and Fire about unified command system if something big or important happens and how that all goes together.

KL: Very important. Very important! It’s just a system that helps us remain organized, helps us manage incidents, and it helps us address individual needs and interests.

Vt Views: You mentioned, or did I mention ... chasing speeders. I think the last time I was stopped by a state trooper, all of 17 years ago, I was going a bit fast...

[laughter]

Vt Views: ... so he stopped me and came up to the car and said ‘do you know why I am stopping you sir?’ I replied if it could have had to do with speeding?

[laughter]

Vt Views: He confirmed that this was so, about 25 over the limit — so I told him I was just divorced, had no defense, and was a bit out of it. He nodded his head, paused a bit, and said he had been through that in Canada. Try to take it easy, he said, walked back to his car and to my astonishment drove off. Of course I was completely sober, and the car itself was without reproach. But I think that is the only way I’ve met local policing. But it seems like a diversified job these days and apart from the group needs of policing, there is inter-group work with medical, fire. But tell me, are there female police officers here?

KL: Yes. We have one. Not every Vermont office has a female, some have two.

Vt Views: Relatively high proportion. Higher than female firefighters. Though I notice Rescue have about 55% females.

KL: It’s a great job which traditionally has appealed to males but females have a part to play these days — we find it’s a dynamic that increases our capabilities. She does a great job.

Vt Views: If a young person was interested in State Police, what sort of route might they take to get here... in terms of preparing themselves, and even discovering if they like police work.

KL: Yes. We have a hiring process, an application they would apply for; we encourage them to get some education, some life experience; someone applying at age 18 compared with someone applying at age 28, certainly brings a different life perspective — a lot of law enforcement is problem solving with issues in the community... we look favorably at applicants who can lean on their life experience who have some experience and maturity...

Vt Views: and authority...

KL: ...and authority! Absolutely. We don’t take that lightly. Also education, all you need is a high-school diploma to be hired by Vermont State Police, but if you are hired now and you are looking at advancement you need a college degree. There is a minimum requirement right now that could be supplemented by military experience. There is an educational or experience component that we look for in our future leaders in our promotion process.

Vt Views: I was going to ask you — but you anticipated the question.

KL: For male or female, its an in depth process; a written test and there is a physical fitness requirement — and the majority of department is required to maintain a certain level of fitness, which is tested twice a year — and there is a process in place that if you don’t maintain that you could be disciplined, we take physical fitness very seriously. So, there is that component for entrants, but our agency asks for continuous maintenance of that fitness level — for obvious reasons.

Vt Views: The job can be pretty physically active.

KL: It can be; sometimes you are going zero and in a moment you are going sixty. Your body has to be prepared physically, and mentally to make those adjustments.

[17:17r 1664]

KL: As the Fire Chief who spoke with you could attest, you can go zero to sixty in a moment, and how do you adapt to that stress? If you are not physically and mentally prepared it’s going to cause problems.

Vt Views: I happen to be a friend of a world champion chess player, and I asked her how she prepared herself for a big event, how much time hitting the books? She replied ‘actually, I swim’, and emphasized physical fitness as a big component of mental readiness. If your body is twitchy and you are not comfortable in it, then you have problems. So, I find this is an interesting thing you are saying [is the high school listening?]

Vt Views: This leads to what happens when you have been accepted by, do you say the Force, or the State Police.

KL: Force. You could call it that [laugh] sure.

Vt Views: What on-going training is there, minimum levels and electives?

KL: There is a state law that requires law enforcement to have minimum hours of training per year. We are fortunate to have a training division. They identify through various checks and balances in our agency what areas of interest are out there, what areas we need improvement; new areas we are venturing into. Computers would be one of them. That is based on the department’s need, then there are opportunities based on an individual’s interest. If I am interested in investigation-type training or interested in inspection of commercial motor vehicles, something like that, there are different avenues where you can gravitate toward an area of interest — as long as it is a need of the department as well. Soup to nuts as far as training goes.

Vt Views: Do you have a hiring or recruiting preference or allowed to have a preference for local people, for Vermonters?

KL: We have standards, and if an applicant meets those standards, whether local or if they are from Alaska, we look at can they do the job, meet the standard, and what is their potential? Obviously local people have a different view of the job because they live in the area, know the people.

KL: Typically if they are interested they could share local knowledge during their interview — suggesting where they could be well-used by the department.

Vt Views: As with the Brattleboro PD, if you are looking beyond job to career, no-one is going to tell you the community doesn’t need policing any more.

KL: And to continue with the question you just asked — if you come here from Alaska, the big question is, ‘am I going to like it here?’ Whereas people from the region know what it’s like.

Vt Views: Officer’s becoming homesick for Kodiak bears and ... Summers are too hot in Vermont...

KL: [laughter] and the Winters are too hot.

Vt Views: They just came out in force, mosquitoes, black-flies and horseflies. Mostly they ignore my dog and go for me. But as for our climate, it not exceptionally hot here, unless you are out bush-wacking for 5 hours, but we do have a 4 or 5 month icy winter, people from elsewhere might not quite understand.

Vt Views: But this job seems to be an all-weather one, like it or not.

KL: Sure. You can be out there on nice days, but you can be out there in the winter-time with nasty weather — difficult situations. And after the long winters people like to get outside, and that can cause some problems too.

Vt Views: Yes, Lew Teich mentioned even Vermonters taking off, under-prepared, hiking 6 or 7 miles, no compass, not enough water and in flip-flops. What can happen? I used to be an alpine mountain climber, and sometimes spectacularly unsuitably dressed people would ask if they could come on a hike above tree-line? Whereas I asked myself what it would be like to drag the person off a mountain?

KL: That is a lot of our search and rescue missions; people who are lost. Skiers, gone off the trail, trying to get an adventure, winding up lost.

Vt Views: You don’t do a formal ski patrol?

KL: That would be a good assignment! I will maybe mention that.

Vt Views: Put it up on the board and see who signs up, all expenses paid training in Switzerland...

[laughter]

Vt Views: Those medals you are wearing — are they military or police?

KL: Police. Awarded by the department.

Vt Views: [laugh] Let the record show there was a pause here — but if you are going to be modest, I’m going to ask... the first is for service and the second is for leaping off a bridge into freezing water to rescue...

KL: Both were given to me for two separate investigations, one given by the division commander, one by the director, who is our colonel.

Vt Views: Were you in the military though?

KL: I was not.

Vt Views: I think Gene Wrinn said he was in the military police. I was in for a couple of years, and when I came out, I really couldn’t believe civilian life. Man! How sloppy! Even though I was still a kid, the infighting, sometimes even in the same company, seemed to reduce the overall prospects — not cooperating with others elsewhere to get things done. I always really like the results side of para-military organizations — formal teams get a lot of difficult work done. I asked Mike Bucossi at Fire why people ran into burning buildings?

[laughter]

Vt Views: And he replied that perhaps firefighters are a little crazy — but on the other hand, the real reason that allows us to do it is that we have a lot of training and discipline. Firefighters don’t actually just charge into burning buildings, they have back-up, each person knows exactly what to do, and what everyone else is doing. This formal group discipline let’s people do difficult jobs.

KL: There is a system in place, tactical approaches, whether EMS, Fire of law enforcement, and it is a big part of your training. Some of the troopers have had military experience, and have had that sort of training, some haven’t but you come together at the police academy; work together and train together, and you develop those relationships and rapport within your own agency, your own shift.

Vt Views: Where you have each other’s back, like the military buddy system.

KL: Yes.

Vt Views: Doesn’t matter if at first you don’t like a person, you have to get over all your stuff.

KL: It can be a lifeline.

Vt Views: Exactly so. We are at about 27 minutes in, and there are a couple of things I like to wind up with: Let’s say someone was attracted to police work, they would have some choices, the Sheriff’s office, regular down-town police work, become a State trooper, or even study at Castleton for Federal level forensics... how would you advise someone in their choice, especially to recommend State police work? Apart from the obvious fact that you have air conditioning and the poor cops downtown don’t...

[extended laughter]

KL:  Our agency is unique even when you look at other state police agencies; what is obvious to me is the diversity that we have in covering a variety of towns each with its own different challenges. Even towns with a PD their own, we are certainly available to assist them, even though they are very capable themselves. We have special teams which provide a variety of challenges for individual troopers; and you are just looking at one part of our agency here, the uniform division; we also have a criminal investigation unit which is plain-clothes, which includes a drug unit, polygraph unit, a diversion unit, prescription drug investigation unit, major crime and death investigations, a sex crimes unit, a computer crimes unit — so there is great diversity within our own agency.

KL: I have spent half of my career in the plain clothes side of things — for me personally I enjoy a change, the diversity that comes with the job, and I don’t need to change agencies to achieve it. I have had a variety of assignments within my career so far and it’s all been under one umbrella, and...

Vt Views: ... these days, that’s saying a lot, and a lot of job security too.

KL: There are other agencies out there where you have opportunities, though we are the largest agency in the state, and able to offer more variety and diversity — more of those different positions that a smaller agency just couldn’t do for obvious reasons, not that they are not capable of doing the work, but because of size. There are areas we would like to expand into but we are a relatively small state — I was just talking with Pennsylvania state police, and they have 4,500 troopers. We have 328. By comparison that is small, but we have a lot of variety to offer.

Vt Views: You can get to know almost everybody, even know people in Fire and Rescue and evolve personal relationships with them which would be impossible in a bigger state.

KL: Absolutely. And we work with the Sheriff’s department, and Brattleboro, Vernon, Dover PDs — but I don’t want to make the impression that we offer all the assistance, they certainly offer us as well. It goes hand-in-hand and we are all in it together.

Vt Views: Just as with the recent fire the other side of town, every town agency there, and disciplined groups of 5 going in.

Vt Views: Maybe we should end this on a joke, especially about Archer Mayor who used to be a Newfane neighbor...

KL: [laughter] and so do I know Archer.

Vt Views: Archer has done everything and now he is a cop, does forensic consulting, investigations... but I asked Gene Wrinn about Archer’s character Joe Gunther, I asked if he seemed like a real policeman? Is the work really as gritty as that?

Vt Views: So what is your opinion of Joe Gunther?

KL: I hope Archer doesn’t read this, but ...

Vt Views: ...wait! You can stop talking now, or lie or something....

[extended laughter]

KL: I cannot tell a lie, but I have not read his books — though I have worked with Archer enough to see his work, so...

Vt Views: A perfectly diplomatic response.

KL: I feel like I’ve seen enough to know.

Vt Views: And to un-joke poor Archer. He is trying to represent you, and with integrity, rather than fantasy. When I spoke with him he emphasized it — he really wants people to see something more real, and he doesn’t like the way Fire, Police Rescue are portrayed on the media. That’s all too smart talk, and glamorized.

KL: I think that the real-life Joe Gunther is Gene Wrinn. He doesn’t have to read the books since he’s living the life.

Vt Views: Right. The books follow him more than he follows the books. And now you’ve also told it like it is.

Vt Views: Anyway, we finished well, and I hope Archer won’t mind it too much.

[laughter]