Starting next week, the town of Hartford will try something new, putting the fire chief in charge of the police department. The plan has the support of the selectboard, but even the Town Manager admits it's an experiment.

Williston has a new Chief of Police. Todd Shepard was sworn in yesterday in a ceremony at the Williston Police Department.

Protesters in Burlington say police still need to explain their response to an altercation last week outside the downtown hotel where New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers were meeting.

The Vermont Supreme Court has sided with the city of St. Albans in a dispute with the Franklin County sheriff. The court rejected the sheriff's argument that the bidding process for providing law enforcement in St. Albans was so unfair that it killed any competition.

A state trooper's use of a stun gun on a Thetford man last month has renewed concerns about the weapons' use in local police departments.

Milton's police chief says that the recent addition of a second detective to his force has allowed officers to deal with more drug investigations.

Some town officials in Orange County say they're concerned that state police response times may slow in the future as the state continues to replace and consolidate aging facilities, including the barracks in Bradford.

A driver whose car slid and tipped over in a ditch last month has helped to refuel a debate about whether police in the Upper Valley town of Hartford have been too heavy-handed in some recent arrests.

While a handful of towns in Vermont are considering creating a joint police force to cut costs, a similar arrangement in Franklin County has led to a legal challenge that's headed to the state's highest court.

A group of Southern Windsor County towns is looking into the possibility of a shared, regional police force. Officials say the policing needs of Vermont towns are changing.

Vermont law enforcement officials say hundreds of pounds of prescription drugs have been collected in an effort to prevent overdoses and stem drug-related crimes.

The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for independent oversight of police activity. The request comes on the heels of the attorney general's decision not to take action against Hartford police officers who subdued a man in his own home in May.

Rutland's Board of Aldermen will meet tonight with the city's Police Commission in the wake of revelations that several officers have been investigated for allegedly viewing pornography while on duty.