Burnor named second detective

By JACQUELINE CAIN | Staff Writer
jackie@miltonindependent.com

The Milton Police Department assigned a second detective last month. As of January 1, Officer Warren Burnor will join Detective Cpl. Paul Locke in investigating crimes in Milton full-time.

Last October, Milton Police received a $226,477 Community Oriented Policing Services grant from the U.S. Dept. of Justice. The department recently hired Ed Larente, and the grant will pay his salary for three years, Chief Brett Van Noordt said.

“Hiring Ed Larente still gives us the adequate man power on the road, which frees up ones of those experienced road people to slide over and become the second detective,” Van Noordt said.

The grant came at the perfect time: Crimes that require ample investigation, including embezzlement, fraud, burglaries and robberies, have been on the rise in the past five years. For example, burglaries and burglary attempts, have nearly doubled, with 33 in 2007 and 63 in 2011, according to police data.

“When I started [as detective six years ago], a case board for me would only run 30 or 40 active, ongoing investigations,” Locke said. He is working on more than 60 active crimes in Milton right now, he said.

Van Noordt said the incidents have increased mainly due to drug crime.

“And we’re seeing a lot of crime that can be traced back to people losing their jobs,” he added.

Some of Locke’s caseload requires more interviews and investigation than the average call.

For example, when three St. Albans City men burglarized more than two dozen homes in Milton and Georgia last spring, it “required huge amounts of time to investigate and gather up all the stolen property,” Van Noordt said. The Milton High School sexting case, when explicit images of more than 30 minors were distributed last winter, took about 80 hours, he added.

Van Noordt took Cpl. Scott Philbrook off road patrol to assist Locke with investigating the sexting case because it required so many interviews, he said.

Locke said the department needs another detective to help Milton in its proactive approach to crime fighting.

“Going out with informants for undercover work [like buying drugs from drug dealers] … when I first started, we didn’t have the ability to do that because of manpower and funding,” Locke said, “but with Officer Burnor becoming detective, we’ll be able to do more of that.”

Burnor was one of three Milton officers who applied for the position. Vacancies are usually filled internally, because the current officers have a leg-up on training for the positions, Van Noordt said.

“Many of my guys are very capable of being the second detective,” he said. “The better [officers are] trained, the better service they can give to the community. And it’s more efficient: They can do a job like that” – he snapped his fingers – “whereas someone who lacks training would need to do catch-up work.”

The applicants went before an oral panel consisting of Locke and sergeants Steve Laroche and John Palasik and took a written exam before Van Noordt and Town Manager Brian Palaia made the final hiring decision.

Locke said Burnor demonstrated the strong interpersonal skills necessary for the job.

“[A detective needs to be] able to talk to the public, actually have them trust you,” he said. “The road guys have a belt full of tools they use to de-escalate cases or scenarios: Pepper spray, Tasers, guns. [Detectives] have guns, handcuffs and our mouths ... If we go to a crime scene that gets out of control, we have to talk them down. Warren has that ability to talk to people.”

Burnor, a member of the Vermont National Guard, has been with the Milton Police Department for three years, including a one-year deployment in Afghanistan. As detective, he is looking forward to solving cases, he said.

“As a road officer in this department, it’s really easy to get buried in your calls, because more keep stacking up,” he said. “I just like the idea of being able to do more lengthy investigations.”

While at the Vermont Police Academy in 2008, Burnor trained in interview interrogation.

“It was ultimately what I wanted to do with my career. Now I have the chance to do it,” he said.

The detective position is an appointment, not a promotion, within the department. Burnor’s hourly wage will increase by 45 cents, an incentive for officers to go into the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Van Noordt said.

Burnor’s schedule will change from 12-hour road shifts three or four days a week to a week of eight-hour workdays. Locke and Burnor’s shifts will overlap; the department currently has one unmarked cruiser to share, which was already used by both Locke and Van Noordt.

“When Paul and I work together, we can hop in the car together and go to the site,” Burnor said, “but when we start to work independently of one another, it may become an issue.”

Van Noordt said the department would not request an unmarked cruiser in its fiscal year 2013 budget; however, two all-wheel drive road cruisers, priced at $64,000, are proposed in the department’s budget up for review later this month to replace the aging marked vehicles.

For the detectives, Van Noordt is considering using two vehicles police seized through an investigation in November. The cars were handed over to federal marshals for further investigation, but Van Noordt hopes when that is complete within nine months, the vehicles will return to Milton.

Burnor will be a capable investigator, Van Noordt said.