Police apologize to students involved in mock shooting scenario during presentation

By Michael Cusanelli, Tyler Boronski

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    BURLINGTON, Vermont (WNNE, WPTZ) — The Burlington Police Department has issued an apology to students following a controversial high school presentation that involved a mock shooting.

Department officials released a statement on Thursday about a recent presentation given to Burlington High School students who were part of the Year End Studies, or YES, program.

According to police, the presentation utilized fake firearms to simulate a shooting.

The Burlington School District said that about 20 students in a Forensics program witnessed a “realistic demonstration” during their trip to the Burlington Police Department on Wednesday in which members of the department enacted a crime involving a shooting.

“While the gun was fake, the enactment involved screaming and fake gunshot sounds, taking place without warning and behind where students were seated. As a result, some students believed the demonstration was real and were left feeling scared and confused,” a letter sent to families in the Burlington School District details.

BSD school officials said that teachers were aware that a demonstration of a gunshot-related crime might occur because the point of the presentation was to prove how witness statements can be unreliable.

“We didn’t realize the demonstration would happen without warning or a chance to properly prepare students to understand what would be taking place,” school officials said.

Police decided to issue a statement because a subsequent social media post following the presentation said that students who were in attendance for that presentation were reportedly upset by what occurred.

“The Burlington Police Department apologizes to any students in attendance who were upset by the specific scenario and crime scene portion of the presentation,” the statement reads in part. “The role-playing scenario only involved three department personnel simulating a robbery scenario and was not directed at any students or faculty.”

Burlington School District officials said that it was clear that students and staff were frightened by the presentation, and both detectives and the teachers apologized. The families of all the students were also notified.

“We take our responsibility to keep students safe very seriously, and we are deeply sorry that this event occurred,” school officials said. “We understand the impact this incident may have had on the mental health and well-being of students, and we let parents and students know that staff in both our counseling and mental health support offices will be able to provide support tomorrow if needed.”

Police said Burlington District staff associated with the YES program had reached out to the BPD back in April about conducting the presentation after a previous successful presentation between police and the BHS Science in Society program back in fall 2023.

The BPD said they spoke with staff about the specific details of the scenarios in the presentation in May, which included “using fake firearms in a mock shooting.”

Police provided a portion of their discussion with the program staff.

“Do you think that sort of incident would be ok for your group of students? It is about as real life as you can get and is certainly exactly the sort of thing we deal with most frequently,” police said in their correspondence.

Police said that the YES program staff agreed that students would be OK with such a presentation.

“I think these students will be fine with this simulation. We will give a heads up to parents and students,” they responded, according to police.

Police said they are taking the complaints in the social media post seriously and the BPD supervisor involved in the presentation has already reached out to YES program staff to discuss the matter further.

Members of the department are scheduled to meet with BSD students and staff on Friday to discuss the presentation and its impact. Meanwhile, school officials said they are reviewing the incident and will work to ensure that similar incidents do not happen in the future.

Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said she’s disappointed by the incident.

She advises police to take a different approach.

“I would much prefer an anti-violence and trauma-informed approach in exposing kids to law enforcement careers,” Mulvaney-Stanak said.

She said she hopes the police department and school district learn lessons from this moment.

“Instead of talking about general scenarios, I would be very specific about what entailed in the learning scenario,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “I hope the school district could ask more questions and learn from this as well.”

Mulvaney-Stanak plans to meet with Burlington police Chief Jon Murad on Monday.

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