WEST BRATTLEBORO — The police deserve support when they do a good job, and the Brattleboro Police Department overwhelmingly has done a good job for our community.
However, our police need more staffing and resources.
Downtown Brattleboro, especially the parking garage, needs a much greater police presence. The police need to be allotted the resources and tools to do their job so that they have the ability to patrol downtown more frequently.
I implore residents to stand up and advocate to the Selectboard and the town for greater policing resources.
If people engaging in criminal behavior such as breaking storefront windows, destruction of property, illicit drug sales and use, vandalism, littering, or assault have no consequences or punishment, they have no incentive to modify their behavior, and the problems will increasingly harm our town.
To not prioritize law-abiding shopkeepers, visitors, and residents is the recipe for the assured decimation of Brattleboro. (I am specifically talking about crime, not homelessness; please do not conflate the two.)
The absolute worst thing that could happen to Brattleboro is for it to be mismanaged and run into the ground like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. These horribly run cities have become dystopian hellscapes of garbage, drugs, and crime. I know this not from the news, but from firsthand knowledge traveling there last summer.
Brattleboro requires a strongly supported police force so that small local businesses can thrive here and so that folks actually want to park and get out of their cars.