Courtesy of Vermont State Police
Ingrid Jonas
WATERBURY—Captain Ingrid Jonas has been selected to serve as the first director of Fair and Impartial Policing and Community Affairs for the Vermont State Police. This new position will be charged with developing and implementing a comprehensive program to ensure fair and impartial policing practices at all levels of the state police, building relationships of trust with minority communities, diversifying the workforce, and improving cultural awareness as the state of Vermont becomes more diverse. This position reflects the Vermont State Police’s continuing commitment to the importance of fair and impartial policing.
Capt. Jonas will work with state police command staff on the following areas:
- Recruitment and hiring: improve recruiting efforts, ensure that prospective officers have strong knowledge of and understand national issues related to policing, bias behavior, and relationships between police and the community.
- Training: ensure the highest level of training in fair and impartial policing practices.
- Supervision and accountability: ensure that front line supervisors are trained to identify issues and effectively intervene when there are concerns.
- Outreach to diverse communities: build trust and mutual understanding by working to bridge gaps between police and diverse communities and establish relationships with a diverse range of Vermont citizens and community leaders, as well as chairing the Vermont State Police Fair and Impartial Policing Committee.
- Traffic stop race data collection: comprehensively review traffic stop data on a continuous basis and implement any necessary changes in policy and/or training.
- Assessment of institutional practices: review all department practices from traffic enforcement to promotions for adherence to the basic principles of fair and impartial policing.
- Policy development: ensure that the state police has meaningful policy to help guide troopers as they make critical law enforcement decisions.
As the Vermont State Police continues to evolve in a rapidly changing law enforcement profession, this position will ensure that the state police remains a highly professional and transparent agency to the people they serve.
