Vermont
Vermont’s Criminal Justice Council certifies law enforcement officers and “may” warn, suspend, or revoke for unprofessional conduct. Since 2023 the State has made domestic violence a ground for sanctions, required hiring agencies to contact every prior law enforcement employer, adopted a statewide Code of Conduct as a condition of certification, and, from January 1, 2025, let the Council sanction a first Category B offense within set limits. A 2026 act creates a state civil action for violations of federal constitutional rights, including by federal officers.
- Sources checked
- Part of
- Officer Ledger
At a glance
- Certifying body
- Vermont Criminal Justice Council (VCJC). It sets basic and annual in-service training, certifies law enforcement officers at Levels I, II, and III, and adjudicates unprofessional conduct and sanctions certification (20 V.S.A. §§ 2351, 2355, 2358, 2401 to 2411).
- Statute
- 20 V.S.A. chapter 151: subchapter 1 (§§ 2351 to 2372: Council, training, certification levels, statewide policies including the Law Enforcement Officers’ Code of Conduct) and subchapter 2 (§§ 2401 to 2411: unprofessional conduct). Rules: VCJC Council Rules, effective February 2, 2025.
- Minimum standards
- No one may exercise law enforcement authority without completing Council basic training and annual in-service training (§ 2358(a)). By Council Rule 14, basic-training applicants must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or GED, and pass a medical exam, the academy entrance exam, and a fitness test. The hiring agency must run a background and character check, including FBI fingerprints and a polygraph, and a psychological evaluation is required. Felony convictions, misdemeanors involving injury to another, and firearm-prohibition orders are disqualifying, as is listed conduct found in the polygraph or background check.
- Decertification
- Unprofessional conduct is Category A (felonies and listed misdemeanors), Category B (a willful failure to comply with a State-required policy or the Code of Conduct), or Category C (Council-process misconduct). The Council “may impose” a written warning, suspension, revocation, or permanent revocation (§ 2406). Since January 1, 2025, it may sanction a first or later Category A or C offense. A first Category B offense may be sanctioned only up to the agency’s own discipline, unless the officer was terminated or resigned, the officer was the executive officer, the agency’s investigation was invalid, or the agency’s discipline was clearly unreasonable under 12 listed factors (§ 2407). Agencies must report to the Council within 10 business days (§ 2403) and finish investigations even if the officer resigns (§ 2404). Council Rule 27(c) still says the Council “shall take no action” on a first Category B offense “not listed in 20 V.S.A. § 2407(a),” which, read literally, bars sanctions the statute now allows.
- Public decertification list
- The Executive Director must keep a public register of all complaints; officer names appear only for complaints that result in charges, stipulations, or discipline (§ 2409(c)). The VCJC certification actions page posts tables that download as CSV. “Decertification 2013-2018” names 14 officers. “Reports on which the Council Takes Action” lists 45 complaints with status, officer name and agency, date received, and hearing summary; 26 decertifications are dated September 13, 2022 to September 15, 2026. The latest complaint listed was received March 9, 2026.
- National Decertification Index
- None found. 20 V.S.A. chapter 151, the 2024 and 2025 Council rules, and the Code of Conduct do not name the Index.
- Continuing training
- Annual in-service training, in hours the Council sets, is required to keep certification (§ 2358(a); Rule 20). The 2026 requirement is 30 hours, including first aid and CPR, firearms qualification, 4 hours of use of force with a VCJC-certified instructor, and domestic violence (VCJC annual requirements). Statute also requires a fair-and-impartial-policing refresher every odd-numbered year (§ 2358(e)(3)) and domestic violence retraining every two years (§ 2365(b)). The Executive Director may temporarily suspend certification for missed in-service training after a 30 to 60 day grace period (Rule 20(c)).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
State civil action for violations of federal constitutional rights, including by federal officers
Anyone who, under color of law, deprives a person of federal constitutional rights is liable to the injured party. “Color of law” expressly includes federal law and other states’ law. Defendants keep the same defenses available under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and courts are to follow § 1983 case law, so federal qualified immunity remains available in this action. The act says it does not create or support qualified or absolute immunity in other Vermont actions. It is a civil remedy and does not change certification.
For officers: You can be sued in Vermont court for a federal constitutional violation, with the same defenses as in a federal § 1983 suit.
Officer-involved shooting investigation protocol to be developed
The Attorney General’s Office, the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, the Department of Public Safety, and the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police must jointly identify a protocol for independent investigations of officer-involved shootings. It must cover triggers, conflicts of interest, notification, investigative steps, dual independent prosecutorial assessment, timely charging decisions, and outcomes. A report with the protocol and any needed legislation is due December 1, 2026. No protocol is in effect yet.
For officers: How shootings are investigated may change after the December 2026 report.
Council adopts the Code of Conduct by rule
New Rule 28 makes the Code of Conduct the statewide policy under § 2371(a) and says certified officers must follow it “as of January 1, 2025,” before the rule took effect. It applies on and off duty, but off-duty conduct may be sanctioned only with a clear nexus to the officer’s professional duties or representation of the agency. Changing the Code takes two motions and a two-thirds vote. The ten-item Code covers untruthfulness, discrimination, misuse of position, domestic violence, unlawful force including the duty to intervene, criminal conduct, sexual misconduct, falsification and misuse of evidence, bribes, and cheating on examinations. The filing also added ARIDE training requirements and indefinite waivers (Rules 22(b), 23).
For officers: Breaking the Code of Conduct, on or off duty with a link to your job, can cost you your certification.
Statewide Code of Conduct, Category B redefined, and new limits on first-offense sanctions
The Council had to adopt a statewide Code of Conduct by rule by December 31, 2024, and following it is a condition of obtaining and keeping certification. The Code must prohibit criminal conduct, untruthfulness, misuse of position, discrimination and biased enforcement, unlawful force including failure to intervene and report, and domestic violence, and it prevails over conflicting agency policy. Category B now means “a willful failure to comply with a State-required policy or the Law Enforcement Officers’ Code of Conduct”; the old list is repealed. The Council may sanction a first or later Category A or C offense. A first Category B offense may be sanctioned only up to the agency’s discipline, unless the officer was terminated or resigned, was the executive officer, or had an invalid agency investigation, or the agency’s discipline was clearly unreasonable under 12 listed factors. A second or later Category B offense may be sanctioned.
For officers: A first willful breach of the Code of Conduct or a required policy can now reach your certification, within the limits in § 2407(b).
Revised Council rules: temporary suspension for missed in-service training and new complaint procedures
A full rewrite of the 2018 rules. The Executive Director may temporarily suspend an officer’s certification for failing in-service hours or mandatory training, after a letter, a 30 to 60 day grace period, and notice of appeal rights (Rule 20(c)). Intentional or willful failure to complete in-service training may be a Category C complaint (Rule 20(d)). A Professional Regulation Subcommittee recommends complaint procedures (Rule 26), and Rule 27 sets hearing procedure, including the first-offense Category B finding. The 2025 rules carry these provisions forward. Entry standards, including the polygraph, appear in both the 2018 and 2024 rules and are not new.
For officers: If you miss your in-service hours, your certification can be suspended after the grace period.
Domestic violence made Category B conduct; domestic violence model policy required
Every State, county, and municipal agency and every certified constable had to adopt the Domestic Violence Involving Law Enforcement Model Policy by July 1, 2024, and must adopt updates within six months. The act added two Category B items: on- or off-duty physical harm or threats to a family or household member, and violating that model policy. It replaced the old rule that the Council “shall take no action” on a first Category B offense with a list the Council could sanction on a first offense. New on that list were sexual harassment involving physical contact and the two domestic violence items; excessive force, chokeholds, and failure to intervene were already sanctionable on a first offense. The Council must also report aggregate data each year on complaints involving domestic or sexual violence. Act 124 replaced the Category B list and the sanction rules on January 1, 2025.
For officers: Harming or threatening a family or household member is unprofessional conduct, on or off duty.
Hiring agencies must contact all prior law enforcement employers
Before hiring, the executive officer must have the officer sign a waiver letting the current employer and any previous law enforcement employers disclose their analysis of the officer’s performance and why the officer left, whether or not the officer is currently employed. The executive officer must contact all known previous agencies; before, only the last one. The waiver requirement and the bar on hiring an officer who refuses it predate the act. The act also made fair-and-impartial-policing refreshers competency-based, directed ARIDE training rules (§ 2355(a)(13)), and set July 1, 2025 as the deadline for rules on alternate routes to certification.
For officers: A new agency will contact every law enforcement employer you have had, not just the last.
Not yet in force and pending
- Shooting investigation protocol (Act 115): report due December 1, 2026.
These bills were not enacted. S.208 (2026, standards for officer identification) passed the Senate February 12, 2026 and the House with amendments May 20, 2026; the Senate did not concur, conferees were appointed, and on May 29, 2026 a House motion to take up the conference report failed 81 to 51, short of the 99 votes needed. No further action is recorded. H.747 (2026, the same subject) was referred to House Judiciary January 22, 2026 with no later action. H.251 (2023, Brady or Giglio letters as misconduct), S.142 (2023, officer eligibility), H.361 and S.97 (2025, civilian oversight), and H.258 (2025, interrogation policies) received no act number.
No Council rule on alternate routes to certification was found, although Act 75 required one by July 1, 2025.
Checked and unchanged
- 20 V.S.A. §§ 2402 to 2406, 2408, and 2411 (internal affairs, duty to report, investigations, sanction types): no amendment since 2017 or 2020 per the section history notes.
- Not counted, technical: Act 6 of 2023, § 248 (cannabis wording in § 2358); Act 18 of 2025, § 29 (a comma in § 2371); Act 157 of 2026, § 30 (moved the Council’s electronic control device report into § 2367; agencies’ duty to report each use predates it).
- Not counted: Act 60 of 2025 added § 2372, a model policy on officers’ access to sealed criminal history records. Act 30 of 2023 concerns sheriff department finances.
- Not counted: Act 104 of 2026 (S.255, signed May 19, 2026) authorizes a pilot Windham County Law Enforcement Governance Council, ending June 30, 2034; it is about governance and does not change certification. Act 28 of 2025 (S.44, signed May 21, 2025) lets only the Governor, with the Attorney General, authorize federal immigration enforcement agreements.
Last updated October 20, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Vermont officer certification: Officer Ledger,” uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/vermont (last updated October 20, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.