STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

TRANSFER ANNOUNCEMENT – LIEUTENANT/WILLISTON FIELD STATION COMMANDER

DATE:                          Aug. 30, 2021

FROM:                         Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director

TRANSFER:                  Lieutenant/Williston Field Station Commander

Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police, is pleased to announce the following transfer:

Lt. Tara Thomas, executive officer/Special Operations to commander/Williston Field Station. The transfer was effective Aug. 29, 2021.

Lt. Thomas has served the people of Vermont for more than 22 years, starting her career with the Vermont State Police in 1999 as a trooper at the Middlesex Barracks. She was promoted to sergeant in 2008 as the agency's public information officer. In 2010 she returned to the Middlesex Barracks as a detective sergeant with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations. She joined the Traffic Safety Division (now known as Special Operations) in March 2018. She was promoted to lieutenant and commander of the Safety Programs Unit in December 2018 and now serves as the executive officer of Special Operations as the unit has evolved. She is responsible for overseeing traffic safety programs, the department's full-time crash reconstruction experts, recreation enforcement, the K-9 Unit commander, the special teams' liaison, and other duties as required. Lt. Thomas also has served on the Vermont State Police Crisis Negotiation Unit and was a member of the Crime Scene Search Team.

A Vermont State Police field station commander is responsible for overseeing the delivery of law enforcement services to the communities patrolled by that station's troopers. Field station commanders are the local representative of the Vermont State Police to the community they serve, and they work with local officials and residents to address public safety and law enforcement concerns in their service areas.

The Williston Barracks provides police coverage throughout Chittenden and Lamoille counties. In Chittenden County, troopers provide primary law enforcement services for the Bolton, Buels Gore, Charlotte, Huntington, Jericho, St. George, Underhill, and Westford. The station also provides assistance as requested to local police departments including Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Hinesburg, Milton, Richmond, Shelburne, South Burlington, Williston, and Winooski, along with the Chittenden County Sheriff's Department and the University of Vermont Police Department. The Williston Barracks patrols 40 miles of interstate highways within Chittenden County.

The Williston Barracks also oversees an outpost office in Cambridge that is responsible for police coverage in the Lamoille County communities of Belvidere, Cambridge, Eden, Elmore, and Waterville. Troopers also provide assistance as requested to area law enforcement agencies including the Morristown and Stowe police departments and the Lamoille County Sheriff's Department.

The barracks is home to the Vermont State Police Special Operations and the Northern Vermont Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Many state police special teams vehicles are housed at this barracks.

Lt. Thomas succeeds Lt. Robert J. Lucas, who is retiring in early 2022. Sgt. Paul Ravelin will serve as acting Special Operations executive officer following Lt. Thomas' transfer.

Lt. Thomas can be reached via the Williston Barracks at 802-878-7111 or by email at tara.l.thomas@vermont.gov. To find out more about the Williston Barracks, visit https://vsp.vermont.gov/stations/williston.

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