The Burlington Police Department is set to eliminate a program that placed licensed mental health clinicians within the department. The program, known as Burlington CARES, was funded through a temporary two-year grant from the Vermont Department of Health. It is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. The goal was to have high-level crisis response staff available through the police department that could provide non-emergency mental health support and case management. Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke said that the program, as it was initially intended, never fully came online. Originally, the program was supposed to include a supervisor, two clinicians, and an emergency medical technician (EMT) or registered nurse from a health care provider. However, negotiations with the University of Vermont Medical Center were unsuccessful. After a year and a half, the city revised the program to eliminate the nurse/EMT position. The staffing challenge also slowed the rollout of the Cares program by delaying the hiring of the supervisor and clinician.”This led to a restructuring of the funding from the state,” Burke said. “The department had always struggled to fill the second clinician spot, so looking at the program in its totality from an operational perspective of a police department, it never came online as envisioned.”Burke said that because the program lacked high-level positions that would allow for assessment and hospitalization, many of the services overlapped with the outreach and care already provided by the Howard Center, which serves all of Chittenden County. Moving forward, he said the best course of action was to eliminate the positions from the police department and let the Howard Center take the lead. “The Howard Center obviously is our designated area here in Chittenden County,” Burke said. “They advise the administration and public safety leadership on their role and their capacity in responding to behavioral health needs in the community, as that is their charge.”In a joint memo to the city council last week, leaders from the Burlington Police Department, the Burlington Fire Department and the Human Resources Department recommended a plan to transition away from the BTV Cares program. The plan would establish the Howard Center Street Outreach Team (SO) and Burlington’s Community Support Liaisons (CSLs) as the primary responders to designated calls, dependent on reported violence or danger factors. CSLs would be available to respond to welfare checks for physical safety and overdoses. Street Outreach would respond to welfare checks for mental health concerns, such as suicidal ideation. Burlington public safety leaders are hoping to phase out the BTV Cares program by Dec. 15. Program staff have been notified of the decision to end the program. One of the two positions is a union position. The union has been working with that employee to identify other possible city positions. The Board of Finance Committee approved an updated partnership agreement with the Howard Center for $249,000 in the 2026 fiscal year. On Monday night, the full council requested a provision in the agreement to include a reporting process. They’ll take it up again with the revision at their Dec. 1 meeting.
BURLINGTON, Vt. —
The Burlington Police Department is set to eliminate a program that placed licensed mental health clinicians within the department.
The program, known as Burlington CARES, was funded through a temporary two-year grant from the Vermont Department of Health. It is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. The goal was to have high-level crisis response staff available through the police department that could provide non-emergency mental health support and case management.
Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke said that the program, as it was initially intended, never fully came online.
Originally, the program was supposed to include a supervisor, two clinicians, and an emergency medical technician (EMT) or registered nurse from a health care provider. However, negotiations with the University of Vermont Medical Center were unsuccessful. After a year and a half, the city revised the program to eliminate the nurse/EMT position. The staffing challenge also slowed the rollout of the Cares program by delaying the hiring of the supervisor and clinician.
“This led to a restructuring of the funding from the state,” Burke said. “The department had always struggled to fill the second clinician spot, so looking at the program in its totality from an operational perspective of a police department, it never came online as envisioned.”
Burke said that because the program lacked high-level positions that would allow for assessment and hospitalization, many of the services overlapped with the outreach and care already provided by the Howard Center, which serves all of Chittenden County. Moving forward, he said the best course of action was to eliminate the positions from the police department and let the Howard Center take the lead.
“The Howard Center obviously is our designated area here in Chittenden County,” Burke said. “They advise the administration and public safety leadership on their role and their capacity in responding to behavioral health needs in the community, as that is their charge.”
In a joint memo to the city council last week, leaders from the Burlington Police Department, the Burlington Fire Department and the Human Resources Department recommended a plan to transition away from the BTV Cares program.
The plan would establish the Howard Center Street Outreach Team (SO) and Burlington’s Community Support Liaisons (CSLs) as the primary responders to designated calls, dependent on reported violence or danger factors. CSLs would be available to respond to welfare checks for physical safety and overdoses. Street Outreach would respond to welfare checks for mental health concerns, such as suicidal ideation.
Burlington public safety leaders are hoping to phase out the BTV Cares program by Dec. 15. Program staff have been notified of the decision to end the program. One of the two positions is a union position. The union has been working with that employee to identify other possible city positions.
The Board of Finance Committee approved an updated partnership agreement with the Howard Center for $249,000 in the 2026 fiscal year. On Monday night, the full council requested a provision in the agreement to include a reporting process. They’ll take it up again with the revision at their Dec. 1 meeting.