MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College Film and Media Culture Department and the Hirschfield International Film Series are co-sponsoring a screening and discussion of “The Price of Safety” on Thursday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m., in Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center). This feature-length film documents ballooning police budgets and racial bias in Vergennes. A discussion will follow the screening featuring historian of policing Professor Amit Prakash and filmmakers Chris Spencer and Professor Erin Wolcott. 

“The Price of Safety” explores national conversations of over-policing and racial bias as they unfold in the quaint community of Vergennes, Vt., far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. While the Black Lives Matter movement is often seen playing out in more urban spaces, this film watches an overwhelmingly white community grapple with a startling fact: their police force has some of the worst racial bias in the state and possibly the nation.