CLAREMONT — Nearly two decades before Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer would face sexual misconduct charges, which led to the temporary suspension of his law enforcement certification last week, he had a short, troubled tenure with the Claremont Police Department.
Documents recently obtained from Claremont Police shed light on the beginning of a law enforcement career mired in controversy.
In September 2006, at 19 years old, Palmer was hired as a patrol officer with the Claremont Police Department, according to the documents.
A little more than a year later, in November 2007, then-Chief Alexander Scott wrote to the City of Claremont requesting to fire Palmer.
“Palmer has repeatedly demonstrated incompetence and inefficiency, has failed to perform assigned duties, and has failed to observe the rules and regulations of the Claremont Police Department,” Scott wrote.
Palmer, who ultimately resigned from the department with a positive referral from Scott in hand, received an end of probation review in October of that year with an overall evaluation of “needs improvement.”
In the review, his then-supervisor Capt. Mark Chase wrote: “It is clear he wants to be a ‘Cop’ but it appears he has not grasp(ped) the serious part of the job and the responsibility that we have a(s) police officers. He constantly jokes around with other officers and has a sarcastic tone which when you get to know Ofc. Palmer it is not offensive but if you do not know him it appears he is cocky or arrogant.”
Scott, according to a memorandum addressing Palmer’s performance evaluation, acknowledged a four-month extension of his probationary period and stated that his “performance will be monitored on a weekly basis for the next four months to ensure that he matures into a competent, efficient officer.”
While in Claremont, Palmer spent about 800 hours in training. As of that October, he had been on his own for three months, “but has fallen short of the expectations of an officer with this much training,” Chase wrote.
Chase faulted him for failing to turn “a couple of cases” into the prosecutor’s office.
“This is not acceptable,” Chase wrote.
Chase advised that Palmer “should concern himself with learning the job and applying himself to the job.”
Internal affairs investigations
In addition to the unsatisfactory performance evaluation, Palmer also faced three internal investigations into violations of Claremont Police Department policy, on and off-duty.
The first investigation report was filed in August 2007, detailing an incident in which Palmer, off-duty at the time, had “approached a juvenile who he believed may be intoxicated,” at a Cumberland Farms in Windsor, Palmer’s hometown, and allegedly asked said juvenile if he “would like to make some money.”
The subject of marijuana was then brought up and when the juvenile displayed the drug itself, Palmer told him that he was a police officer, causing the juvenile to run away and Palmer to pursue on foot, catching him and leading him back to his car. There, Palmer “called Windsor PD and the police soon arrived.”
Palmer was subsequently suspended for two days without pay after the department found he acted outside of policy on the issues of making an arrest where he has no jurisdiction, not immediately reporting his observations to police before making an off-duty arrest and for his “attempt to purchase drugs (which) is not authorized as a member of the Claremont Police Department.”
A second internal investigative report into Palmer’s misconduct was filed in October 2007, stemming from an incident in which Palmer again acted out of policy, this time by not completing a written report involving ammunition seized from a juvenile’s bedroom at the request of concerned parents.
Instead of filing the report, according to the October investigation, Palmer worked another three shifts before leaving for “an extended vacation,” returning nearly a month later.
The department also found that Palmer had forwarded the case to another officer without knowledge of his superiors, and told said officer to delete the record logging the ammunition taken by the Claremont Police Department, allegedly writing in notes: “This was just a juvenile issue parents wanted advice no crime was committed.”
For Palmer’s failure to perform a written order in the completion of the report and his request to delete the information logged when the ammunition was seized, he was suspended for one day without pay.
The final straw
A month after Palmer’s probationary period was extended by Chief Scott following the two aforementioned internal investigations in August and October and poor performance ratings, a third internal investigation was conducted into Palmer’s policy violations.
In November 2007, another Claremont Police officer filed an excessive force complaint against Palmer following an incident in which the other officer was booking an individual for DUI.
According to the booking video and transcript, the man who was arrested for DUI was becoming increasingly agitated as his requests to go to the bathroom were delayed by the other officer, who at one point drew his taser but did not use it.
The other officer called for assistance and when Palmer arrived, he asked the arrested individual, “You want to play games?”
A back and forth between Palmer and the arrested man quickly escalated from the man being held against the door of the booking area to both officers taking him down.
Chase, who filed the investigative report, requested in a memorandum to Scott that both officers be placed on administrative leave. It is not clear in the documents obtained by the Valley News whether such disciplinary action was levied against the other officer.
The department found that Palmer violated multiple Claremont Police Department policies including use of force, code of conduct and code of ethics.
Five days after the incident in the booking area, Scott sent a memorandum to Palmer stating that he was “placed on unpaid administrative leave pending formal termination proceedings.”
After being placed on leave, according to police documents, Palmer had returned his weapons, badges, uniforms, duty equipment and a taser that held two cartridges but only contained one.
A couple weeks later, Palmer still stated he couldn’t find the cartridge when asked by the department to return it.
On Nov. 15, 2007, Palmer voluntarily resigned.
In a stipulated agreement between the police union, Palmer and the city, Palmer received wages from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31, 2007 totaling $4,720.80, as well as a positive letter of reference from Scott.
“I gladly recommend Ryan Palmer for employment,” Scott wrote in the letter dated Dec. 21, 2007. “Ryan is a dedicated and hard worker. He interacted well with his co-workers and customers in a courteous and helpful manner. His work was neatly done and was always in an orderly fashion.”
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Scott, who served as chief until 2017 and currently works as an attorney, said he doesn’t have “specific recollections” about Palmer’s time in Claremont.
“Nineteen years ago is a long time,” he said.
Subsequent challenges
The employment issues for Palmer in Claremont were the first of many.
In April 2008, Palmer was hired by the Canaan Police Department but was fired a few months later for failing to meet department standards, according to Canaan Police records.
During this short spell with Canaan, an internal investigation was conducted into Palmer making inappropriate comments to juveniles after responding to an underage drinking party.
As an officer with the Windsor Police Department in 2012, Palmer was suspended for 30 days without pay for hosting an underage drinking party of his own. And in August 2014, Palmer was rejected from becoming the Windsor school resource officer over “boundary issues.”
In February 2016, while still employed by Windsor, Palmer violated department policies by running the license plate number of a car registered to a Lebanon police officer because he was dating Palmer’s ex-girlfriend.
In 2014, while working for Windsor, Palmer was involved in a botched sting operation in which he shot and wounded a man. He faced charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment in a 2017 trial at which he was ultimately acquitted.
This past January, Palmer, who was elected Windsor County Sheriff in 2022, was arrested on multiple charges of sexual misconduct from a Vermont State Police investigation involving three victims, payments or offered payments for sex acts, encouragement to lie to investigators, and stalking of the victims’ homes and places of employment when they cut off contact with Palmer.
At his arraignment in Rutland Superior Court on Jan. 28, Palmer pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice, two felony counts of aggravated stalking with a deadly weapon, a felony count of lewd and lascivious conduct and two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution.
Last Wednesday, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott urged Palmer to resign the same day the Vermont Criminal Justice Counsel suspended his law enforcement credentials while the criminal case is pending. Earlier that week, the Windsor County delegation of state representatives and senators sent Palmer a letter formally requesting that he resign along with other steps to ensure public safety and trust in law enforcement.