A prominent advocate for racial justice and impartial policing in Vermont no longer works for the state.
Etan Nasreddin-Longo, co-director of the Vermont State Police’s Fair and Impartial Policing Committee, was removed from the position Friday, sources close to him say.
The Department of Public Safety confirmed Nasreddin-Longo is currently not a state employee and declined to further comment on personnel issues, according to a press release Monday.
“The department’s longstanding commitment to the principles of fair and impartial policing remains unchanged, and the work of the Office of Fair and Impartial Policing and Community Affairs will continue,” the release states.
Mary Gannon, vice president of the Windham County NAACP, said that while many will think of this as a loss for the community — primarily in terms of the fair and impartial policing that he worked and advocated for — it’s more than that.
“The beauty of Etan and his work and his reach is that his work included the queer community, included the immigrant community,” and was very intersectional, she said.
Nasreddin-Longo’s removal seems particularly ominous, Gannon said, at a time when there is a nationwide assault on equity efforts, including fair and impartial policing.
Regarded by many community members as a champion of equity and fairness in Vermont, Nasreddin-Longo has served on the committee since 2014 and became co-director in 2016.
He has also served on the Vermont attorney general’s Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel but stepped down this year, a spokesperson from that office said.
State Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-Windsor 6, one of few Black representatives in the Legislature, said people of color in Vermont know that bias in policing persists in the state. Nasreddin-Longo’s presence on the committee and his work to change that “helped turn that dial down.”
His recent removal, however, sends a very different message, Christie said. “It’s like we’re all better now. We’re fixed. We don’t need it anymore.”
“What does this say about the ‘Brave Little State’ and the exceptionalism we so often claim?” Christie wrote in a social media post last week. “Are we truly committed to fairness and equity, or are we beginning to placate anti-DEI sentiment in response to a shifting political landscape?”
State officials and Nasreddin-Longo did not immediately respond to comment.
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