Police chief resigns after admitting he ran fake Twitter account to taunt critic

“It was also clear that if he continued to serve, the days ahead would be very challenging for him, his family, the department, and the city,” Weinberger said.

According to the Burlington Free Press, Del Pozo went to Weinberger on July 28 to admit that he had created the now-deleted account @WinkleWatchers to taunt political activist Charles Winkleman, a critic of the Burlington police.

Weinberger said that he took del Pozo’s gun, badge, and cellphone the following morning and placed him on leave pending an internal investigation. Weinberger said he learned from doctors in the that del Pozo’s impulsive behavior was because of a mental illness as a result of a severe bicycle crash last year.

Del Pozo spent six weeks on leave receiving mental health treatment. He returned to the job in September and was given a verbal reprimand for the fake account and allowed to return to duty.

News of the fake Twitter account, however, broke last week, and del Pozo told reporters that his head injury and stress caused him to make erratic decisions. Del Pozo told Vermont news outlet Seven Days, which reported he lied about the account when asked in July, that the stigma around mental health was why he didn’t originally disclose what he did.

“The thought of what happened then is out of character,” del Pozo said. “It’s something I’ve never done before or since … it made no sense and was clearly not the right thing to do.”

Over the weekend, a number of people called on del Pozo to resign, including Vermont Progressive Party city counselors Max Tracy and Brian Pine.

“We need to remember that, as public officials, as hard as it is for that criticism to come at us, we need to expect it,” Pine said. “We invite it, we need to expect it, and we need to tolerate it.”

But city counselors Joan Shannon and Kurt Wright, a Democrat and a Republican respectively, both said they didn’t think del Pozo needed to resign.

Weinberger praised del Pozo’s tenure as police chief when he announced his resignation. He pointed to the chief’s work with the opioid crisis and mitigating issues related to use of force while heading the police department.

“From the moment that I first read his application, I believed him to be exactly the right person to lead the police in this progressive city at a very challenging moment in American law enforcement,” Weinberger said. “He was.”

Del Pozo posted a copy of his resignation letter to Twitter, writing, “It was such an honor and a privilege to be our city’s Chief of Police. I’m looking forward to future opportunities to serve, and happy and healthy times with my family.”