Burlington's police officers are continuing to advocate for judges to order more defendants held between their arrest and their trial, a push some advocates say raises civil liberties concerns.

One of the leading causes of arrests in Burlington, Chief Brandon del Pozo said earlier this month, is for violation of conditions of release: when a person breaks one of the rules set out by a judge while being released on bail. Arrests where violation of conditions of release is the most serious charge grew by 86 percent between 2015 and 2016.

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Vermont law sets out 17 different conditions that can be imposed, which include prohibiting a defendant from driving, a curfew, or ordering a person to not use drugs or alcohol.

Del Pozo said he believed the courts should be holding people who repeatedly violate their conditions more often than they do now in cases where there's a safety threat.

The department's arrest records show a jump in the number of people arrested for violating their conditions between 2015 and 2016. In 2015, the department made 213 arrests where violating conditions was the most serious charge. In 2016, officers arrested 398 people on the same grounds.

In an email last week, del Pozo said one explanation is that people who are continually re-released after being arrested creates "an environment where people see no incentive to obey conditions." In a follow-up interview, the chief said there may be other factors behind the rise, such as increased foot patrols putting officers in closer contact with community members.

The department is currently searching for a new data analyst, del Pozo said, and he plans to have the new analyst study the increase.

The numbers don't show arrests where violating conditions was an additional charge, del Pozo said, only where it was the most serious charge.

The chief's comments come as Burlington officials have called attention to a handful of cases and pushed for more incarceration.

Late last month, Deputy Chief Shawn Burke said an officer sustained a minor injury in the arrest of Jason Breault, a homeless man who suffers from severe mental illness, according to his lawyer.

"We need to show that this is intolerable," del Pozo said in a text message to Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George, referring to Breault as a "career perp." The arrest also prompted Mayor Miro Weinberger to reach out to former U.S. Attorney Eric Miller and Secretary of Health and Human Services Al Gobeille.

"Seems wrong to me this guy is on the street," Weinberger wrote to Miller, now a lawyer for UVM Medical Center, the morning after Breault's arrest.

"I am planning on saying something publicly Monday about 1) the need for people with this kind of violent record to be incarcerated; 2) more mental health resources at all levels so people get the right treatment at the right place at the right time," he wrote to Gobeille a few hours later.

In the wake of Breault's arrest, the police union made a statement decrying the court's decision to release a person with several active criminal cases.

The number of people being held pre-trial throughout the state fluctuates daily, said David Turner, the Department of Corrections director for policy development and offender due process. On Thursday morning, there were 397 people being detained before being convicted and sentenced. Some, Turner said, were being held without bail while some had been arrested and had yet to see a judge.

On Friday, Turner said three people in Vermont were being detained pre-trial for only violation of conditions. Another 20 people have violating conditions listed as a second or third crime.

No sentenced inmates have violation of conditions as a first crime, Turner said. Thirty-three of the state's inmates have violation of conditions listed as a second or third crime.

Jay Diaz, an attorney with the Vermont chapter of the ACLU, said the organization was disappointed to see Burlington move in the opposite direction than the state, which has been examining ways to reduce the number of people incarcerated.

"We all want people to be safe," he said, but questioned whether locking up more people — many of whom suffer from mental illness or substance abuse problems —would effectively accomplish that goal.

"Do we want to use our jails to handle our social problems?" Diaz asked. People are worse off when they come out of jail, he said. Even spending one night behind bars can disrupt someone's life.

Del Pozo said he takes seriously concerns about violating someone's rights by holding them before they are convicted of a crime, but said he believes judges should balance those concerns with the safety of officers and the public.

"We have a good bail system where we don't needlessly incarcerate people with bail preemptively before the judicial process, but the public safety backstop to that is that they're required to behave in a safe way without a jail," del Pozo said. "So when they violate conditions that show they don't intend to adhere to that, I think the judiciary should take that seriously."

Conditions can be used to address public safety concerns, and Vermont law does set forth certain situations where violating conditions can allow a judge to hold a defendant pre-trial, said George.

But the Vermont Supreme Court has clearly said that a sheer number of violations is not enough, George said, which is why her office typically doesn't file to hold people under the law.

"The Supreme Court found it has to be a repeated violation of a condition that minimizes the integrity of the system," she said.

In 2016, Vermont's highest court reversed a Bennington judge's decision to hold Jeremy Gates after he repeatedly violated his conditions. In his decision, Justice John Dooley wrote that to hold a person pre-trial for repeatedly violating conditions, there must be a "disruption of the prosecution."

"The judges are just interpreting the law, and the law doesn’t give people the right to hold people in jail," said Sara Puls, a public defender in Chittenden County who worked on the Gates case. Judges can take steps to address public safety, like imposing tighter conditions.

Violation of conditions of release is a separate criminal charge, she said. People who are charged with the crime still have a presumption of innocence and the right to a trial.

Those charges also don't disappear if the defendant is found to be not guilty of the original charge.

In many of the cases spotlighted by the Burlington Police Department for the number of charges, the majority are for violation of conditions of release, she said.

And in some cases, the conditions themselves can set up a person for failure, she said.

One issue that comes up often is a condition ordering a person struggling with substance abuse to stay away from drugs or alcohol.

"To impose the condition and not provide them support and services, it is essentially a set up for failure," she said.

The long-term solution is more treatment options, del Pozo said. People who end up repeatedly in court because they can't control their addiction or alcoholism should be given help.

If a person is appearing before a judge multiple times for addiction or alcoholism issues, del Pozo said, he'd like for the judges and their mental health and substance abuse colleague to get that person help.

He cited the example of Nicole Coolum as an example of someone with multiple arrests who is dealing with substance abuse issues. Police issued a release about Coolum's arrest after she allegedly kicked a correctional officer and spat on a police officer. Police had gone to the UVM Medical Center's emergency room to transport Coolum to a detox facility, according to court papers.

"I would love for us as police to bring this to people's attention five, ten, 15 times and to say 'you know, this is a problem, let's fix it," he said about her case.

In the release following Coolum's arrest, Lt. Dennis Duffy wrote that the incident is "an example of rising concerns for the safety of law enforcement, fire department personnel, hospital staff and correctional officers. Coolum is routinely released on court ordered pre trial conditions."

Court records show that Coolum, who had previously been arrested during attempts to transport her to a detox facility, has several sets of conditions, including one that she not appear in public with a blood alcohol level above zero.

At a hearing following Coolum's October arrest, Vermont Superior Court Judge Kevin Griffin sat in front of a near-empty courtroom and puzzled over what to do. He brought up the court's lack of resources and the defendant's failed referral to treatment court the year prior.

"I don't think incarceration is the answer," he said.

"Well, he may be right," del Pozo said. "Welcome to the arena. I mean, we're doing our job, he's doing his job. I think we have to work a little bit harder at this."

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @jess_aloe