Vermont

Vermont's 14 counties have constitutional sheriffs who do perform general policing in rural areas where no municipal or state-police coverage exists. Act 30 of 2023 (S.17) strengthened financial transparency and audit requirements for sheriff's departments but created no civilian oversight board. Vermont S.75, which would have authorized municipalities to create civilian oversight boards, stalled in Senate Government Operations in 2023 and was not enacted.
Sheriff oversight
0/14 counties with a dedicated body 0 reports from those bodies
Other oversight
0 Civil Grand Jury reports 19 statewide oversight reports
Compare costs Compare Vermont sheriff departments side by side
14 sheriffs named · of 14 counties
Population, budget, $ per resident, staffing, and jail capacity across all 14 counties.

Data from CA State Controller's Office and CA State Sheriffs' Association.

State context

Act 30 of 2023 (S.17) strengthened financial transparency and audit requirements for sheriff's departments but created no civilian oversight board. Vermont S.75, which would have authorized municipalities to create civilian oversight boards, stalled in Senate Government Operations in 2023 and was not enacted.

Vermont's sheriffs are constitutional officers under Vt. Const. Ch. II, § 50, elected to four-year terms in each of the state's 14 counties. Each county's sheriff's department consists of the elected sheriff and any deputies and staff the sheriff appoints (24 V.S.A. § 290); departments handle civil process, prisoner transport, and contract patrol for towns that have no municipal police department of their own. Vermont has no county jails: the state closed its county jails and unified corrections under the Vermont Department of Corrections in a 1970s legislative reform, and the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics excludes Vermont, along with six other states, entirely from its jail surveys for that reason.

Counties

0 of 14 counties have a dedicated civilian sheriff oversight body. Highlighted rows have an established body. See methodology for scoring.

# County Status (date) Started (date) LE capability Independence

No record found · 14 counties

  • Addison
  • Bennington
  • Caledonia
  • Chittenden
  • Essex
  • Franklin
  • Grand Isle
  • Lamoille
  • Orange
  • Orleans
  • Rutland
  • Washington
  • Windham
  • Windsor