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DECEMBER 7, 2023
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
CJC prepares to take on domestic violence cases BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Domestic violence would seem to be an ideal fit for restorative, rather than punitive, justice. With relationships, finances and living situations all hanging in the balance, keeping families whole rather than punishing a perpetrator has a host of benefits to a community. But the community justice centers in Vermont that facilitate restorative justice for crimes have until now been barred from taking on domestic violence cases. A state law (Act 11) passed last spring changes that. Now, community justice center staff, including Williston Community Justice Center Executive Director Cristalee McSweeney, are partnering with the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to enhance their training and expertise to handle a new kind of caseload. “We’re willing to take domestic violence cases, and I think we should be taking domestic violence cases, without question,” McSweeney said. “I think the lack of accountability in a courtroom, the lack of justice for both victims, impacted parties and for the responsible party, don’t address the root causes.” “It’s the right thing to do. We just need to have the expertise …. We’re laying the foundation right now.” The restorative justice process involves a group of community volunteers working with both perpetrators and victims to repair the harm created by a crime. The parties meet
twice a week in the Williston Police Department’s community room over the course of two months to create a plan that holds the responsible party accountable. “I think our setting is better than the judicial setting. It’s more supportive,” said Mia Marinovich, chair
“We’ll have to have specific volunteers who are willing to be trained in that kind of trauma…” Mia Marinovich Board Chair Williston Community Justice Center
of the volunteer Community Justice Center (CJC) board. “You get to know these people and they are seen as a community member. “We all make mistakes,” she added, “and we have to have second chances. We all need them.” McSweeney said the CJC should be ready to take on domestic violence cases by the middle of next year. She expects cases to be referred by criminal court judges and probation officers, as long as both victims and responsible parties are willing; they won’t be mandated to go the community justice route. McSweeney isn’t sure how large the domestic violence caseload will be in Williston. The CJC already is past capacity dealing with cas-
es of retail theft, driving under the influence and juvenile delinquency, among other crimes, she said. “We also have people just walk in off the street every day looking for food,” Marinovich said, adding that volunteers keep a small food shelf stocked in the community room. McSweeney is the lone fulltime staffer at the center. There are three other part-timers who, combined, put in about 40 hours a week. McSweeney is lobbying the selectboard for more town funding, saying the center already needs two more full-time positions, even before the addition of domestic violence cases. “We are extremely underfunded for what we are doing and for the needs of the community,” McSweeney said. “Our caseload is extremely high. We don’t have what I consider to be anywhere near adequate funding.” Domestic violence will add a new layer of complexity to the center’s work. In addition to the training that McSweeney and other community justice center staff around the state will undergo in the coming months, Williston’s volunteers will also need new skills to effectively handle cases of domestic violence, Marinovich said. “We’ll have to have specific volunteers who are willing to be trained in that kind of trauma and how to deal with trauma like that,” she said. “It won’t be everyone. It will be a small group of people who feel like they have the skill set to do that work.”
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Troopers mark the opening of the new Vermont State Police Williston barracks Monday on Route 2A. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
State police completes move to new Williston barracks
OBSERVER STAFF REPORT Troopers and dispatchers with the Vermont State Police moved into their new Williston barracks on Monday. The building has been under construction since early 2022 and is co-located on Route 2A just south of the Exit 12 interchange of Interstate 89 with a park-and-ride that opened in October. The new barracks replace a building about a half mile to the north on Route 2A, where the State Police had operated since 1992. The newly constructed facility covers about 22,600 square feet and has an 11,000-square-foot equipment storage garage for special units such as the crime scene search team, mobile command post, tactical services unit and
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bomb squad. In addition to a police barracks, the building will also be home to a 911 call dispatch center and a Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department office. Two jail cells are also built on the 50-acre site. Inside the barracks are offices for troopers and criminal detectives, interview rooms for speaking to victims, witnesses and suspects, secure evidence rooms and multiple conference rooms. Smith Alvarez Sienkiewycz Architects of Burlington and DEW Construction of Williston managed the project. The Williston barracks is commanded by Lt. Cory Lozier and provides police coverage throughout Chittenden and Lamoille counties. Troopers stationed in Williston see BARRACKS page 24