Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo created an anonymous Twitter account to taunt a police critic, he admitted to Seven Days on Thursday evening.
The account, @WinkleWatchers, has since been deleted. Del Pozo created the profile to mock Charles Winkleman, a Burlington resident, political activist and known provocateur who regularly takes aim online at the chief, landlords and others in power.
Del Pozo lied when Seven Days asked him about the burner account in July, saying he had nothing to do with it. But days later, del Pozo confessed what he had done to Mayor Miro Weinberger. He took six weeks of medical leave to seek mental health treatment, the mayor said. The chief has been back on duty since mid-September.
“I was disappointed in what I did,” del Pozo told a reporter Thursday, speaking softly in a somber tone. “It was a mistake, and I regret it, and I’m sorry.”
“Holy shit,” said Winkleman, when told about the chief’s admission. “Oh my God. Wow.”
“I’m amazed that they would even admit it,” he said. “But for me it comes down to: What’s going to change? What’s the accountability like?”
Del Pozo created the account on July 4 while he was off duty, he said. Using his personal cellphone, he sent out a litany of tweets mocking Winkleman’s views. The avatar for the account was a cropped photo of Winkleman wearing a Groucho Marx-style mustache, previously published in connection with his performance at the 2013 Green Mountain Comedy Festival.
“The #ChickyTroll is a cowardly creature hiding behind an electron curtain,” WinkleWatchers wrote in one tweet. “Chicky” is a nickname of Winkleman’s. “We’ve been blocked, but he will surely continue to insult, debase, have faux indignation, harass, and in sum: TROLL.”
Winkleman contacted Seven Days soon after with his suspicion that del Pozo was behind the profile. This reporter asked del Pozo about the allegation on July 23. He denied having any “sock puppet accounts.”
“The answer’s categorically no,” the chief said. “If I had anything to say, I would say it directly.”
On July 28, del Pozo went to Weinberger’s home to admit to his boss that he’d created and run the account, both men said. Weinberger placed the chief on paid administrative leave, stripped del Pozo of his gun, badge and cellphone, and ordered him to stay off social media.
A subsequent internal investigation by city attorney Eileen Blackwood and Human Resources director Deanna Paluba “very quickly … turned up a number of things,” Weinberger said, including a finding that del Pozo’s actions were “linked to an underlying medical condition.”
“From that point on,” Weinberger said, “this was treated as a verified medical situation.”
The mayor’s chief of staff, Jordan Redell, announced on August 2 that del Pozo had taken a “Family and Medical Leave of Absence.” Del Pozo returned to duty on September 15 after his personal doctor and the city’s independent medical examiner both cleared him, Weinberger said.
On Monday, Winkleman published a lengthy account of why he believed the chief was behind WinkleWatchers on his site, charleswinkleman.com, under the headline “Chief Brandon del Pozo Bullies Critics into Silence.”
Seven Days reached out to del Pozo Tuesday about Winkleman’s public allegation. A deputy chief called the paper on Wednesday to say the chief would be available to talk in person at the One North Avenue police headquarters at 5 p.m. Thursday.
During the interview, del Pozo refused to name his specific diagnosis, but he said he suffered a brain injury in his June 2018 near-fatal bike accident in the Adirondacks. He also alluded to stressful “challenges” this spring and summer, when his department was under intense scrutiny for use of force.
“It resulted in a lapse of judgment where I made a mistake that I regret,” del Pozo said. “I responded to negativity with negativity in a way that doesn’t become a chief of police.”
His social media presence has led to criticism in the past. In July 2017, the chief used his personal Facebook account to take to task an 18-year-old woman who accused officers of wrongdoing on social media.
Weinberger acknowledged the chief’s problematic past social media use. Yet when del Pozo returned from leave, the mayor’s only sanction was to verbally reprimand the chief. He warned him any repeat offense would result in his immediate dismissal. The mayor chose not to pursue harsher discipline because del Pozo regretted his actions and his service has “otherwise been exemplary,” Weinberger said.
“Mental health challenges are serious issues among public safety personnel,” Weinberger added. “We have a duty to be compassionate about them.”
Winkleman was critical of the administration for not going public sooner and said the chief has never shown he can accept criticism.
He said: “If you regretted it, why didn’t you apologize to me?”
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Mental issue or not, I’m not sure how a chief of police, who is on record as lying to the press and the public, can carry on in their role.
How are the residents of Burlington and anyone who visits their city able to trust what this police chief says?
I support police 100% but if u have lapse of judgement like that u shouldn’t be carrying a gun
If there is evidence that he has acted similarly before his head injury and subsequent mental health issues, it should be considered grounds for dismissal, particularly because he lied about it. Burlington is becoming a microcosm of the corruption that plagues municipalities and it starts with Wonder Boy Weinberger.
No one was harmed? The whole community was harmed. If the Chief of Police is willing to lie to the public, how can we trust anything he says now? What example does that send to the rest of the force?
We give police a heavy responsibility and entrust them with an important duty; we should hold them to higher standards.
Sure, this behavior isn’t wonderful but given the parameter of misconduct among public and private officials, I find it a little over the top to call for Mr. del Pozo’s head. This may be embarrassing behavior, but not criminal or dangerous. Wouldn’t we want to encourage our public officials to come forward and admit mistakes without getting tarred and feathered for any infraction?
It was a mistake; nobody was harmed. I’m much more concerned about the issue of excessive force and militarizing police precisely because every police officer is human and everyone makes mistakes. I’d rather a mistake be made behind a keyboard on FB than with a tank or rocket launcher IRL.
Great news for the chief! If he guns down an unarmed suspect he’s got a built-in insanity defense.
Great news for the Chief! If he guns down an unarmed suspect he’s got a built-in insanity defense!
A giant hole, an out of control police force, a displaced market, a ruined city park, a war on vulnerable people, and now a police chief anonymously attacking a kid for standing up for tenants rights. I shudder to think what would happen to Vermont if this guy is elected to state-wide office. Do the right thing Miro, hang it up. Go back to the private sector where your damage can be mitigated to just your own clients. It’s not your fault, you drank the Harvard Kool-aid without thinking. We get it. But it’s really time to do the right thing. We’ve had enough.
More proof Burlington wasn’t broken, but the elected Mayor certainly is. I guess dodging accountability is what’s taught at the Kennedy School.
that be’n said.. I’d rather have Burlington’s finest enforcing the law
rather than Coney Island’s finest.