Promotion Announcement - Commander, St. Johnsbury Barracks

STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

PROMOTION ANNOUNCEMENT - COMMANDER, ST. JOHNSBURY FIELD STATION

DATE:                          May 27, 2022

FROM:                         Col. Matthew T.  Birmingham, director

PROMOTION:              Commander – St. Johnsbury Field Station

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

Acting Lt. Owen Ballinger, the acting commander at the St. Johnsbury Barracks, to full lieutenant and permanent station commander at the St. Johnsbury Barracks.

Lt. Ballinger has served the people of Vermont for more than 23 years. He was hired in February 1999 and upon graduation from the Vermont Police Academy that June was assigned as a trooper at the St. Johnsbury Barracks. He transferred that fall to the Derby Barracks, where he worked until joining the Traffic Safety Division in 2007. He earned a promotion to sergeant with Traffic Safety in 2016 before becoming a patrol commander first at the St. Johnsbury Barracks and then in Derby in 2020. He was named acting lieutenant and station commander at St. Johnsbury in August 2021.

In addition to these duties, Lt. Ballinger served on the Emergency Services Unit from 2016-20, is a member of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, operates sonar with the SCUBA Team, and has served since 2006 on the Crash Reconstruction Team, which he currently commands. He is a native Vermonter, having grown up in Newport Center, and is a graduate of Champlain College in Burlington.

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 St. Johnsbury Barracks and its Bradford satellite outpost provide police coverage throughout Caledonia and Essex Counties, including primary law enforcement services for the towns of Barnet, Burke, Concord, Corinth, Danville, East Haven, Fairlee, Granby, Groton, Guildhall, Kirby, Lunenburg, Newark, Newbury, Peacham, Ryegate, Sheffield, Stannard, the town of St. Johnsbury, Sutton, Topsham, Vershire, Victory, Walden, Waterford, West Fairlee and Wheelock.

Troopers assigned to the station also provide assistance as requested to local police departments in Bradford, Lyndonville, St. Johnsbury and Thetford, along with the Essex and Caledonia County sheriffs’ departments. The St. Johnsbury Barracks patrols more than 200 miles of interstate and state roads, along with hundreds of miles of local town roads.

Lt. Ballinger can be reached at the St. Johnsbury Barracks at 802-748-3111 or by email at owen.ballinger@vermont.gov. The effective date of the transfer was May 22, 2022.

To find out more about the St. Johnsbury Field Station and the communities it serves, visit https://vsp.vermont.gov/stations/stjohnsbury.

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