Longtime Vermont State Police member Jean-Paul (JP) Sinclair, who first joined the agency in 1987 and in the decades since has investigated some of the state’s highest profile criminal cases, will retire next month following 31 years of service to Vermonters. Sinclair, a captain, became the Vermont State Police’s chief criminal investigator in 2013 and has worked as a detective in various capacities for more than 20 years. For the past year, Sinclair has led the VSP’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
“Once I got into criminal investigations I just knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. It’s an amazing group of people who make me proud every day,” Sinclair said, referring to his colleagues. “It’s a thrill to be in this chair and to see the work that goes on every day, the successes in any number of cases every day. It’s just very gratifying.”
Sinclair, the son of a career Vermont State Police member, still was in college at Iowa State University when he joined the force as an auxiliary trooper in 1987 based at the now-closed Colchester Barracks. After graduating, Sinclair applied to be a full-time trooper.
He was accepted into the spring 1991 class at the Vermont Police Academy, graduated that June and was assigned as a road trooper with the St. Johnsbury Barracks. He became a detective trooper just over five years later, then was promoted to sergeant with the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations in 1998. Nine years later he was promoted again, to detective lieutenant, followed by a transfer to Headquarters in Waterbury in 2009 to work on the Crime Scene Search Team and with the Vermont Forensic Laboratory.
In 2013 Sinclair was promoted to captain and became the state police’s chief criminal investigator — a position that became the head of the VSP Major Crime Unit following the establishment of that office in 2015. After two years, Sinclair swapped roles with Capt. Dan Trudeau, who had been leading the Bureau of Criminal Investigations since the creation of the MCU.
The mission of the Major Crime Unit is to investigate Vermont’s most serious offenses, especially homicides and suspicious missing-persons cases, along with officer-involved shootings. The Bureau of Criminal Investigations, meanwhile, handles other serious matters, such as death investigations, sexual assaults, crimes against children, embezzlements, robberies and other felony-level cases.
Sinclair lists among his most memorable cases the numerous homicides he helped investigate, from the highest-profile slayings to murder cases that generated less of a spotlight.
“In my career they were the most challenging, and the most rewarding when you came to the end on them,” he said. “It’s hard to really pick any particular case. There are a lot of cases that got more public and media attention than others, but inside the investigation, it didn’t matter. The intensity of the effort was always the same. No matter who the victim was, we were always putting max effort in to solve the case.”
Another career highlight, Sinclair said, was working on the force at the same time as his father, John Sinclair, including when the elder Sinclair was director of the state police from 1996 to 1999.
“Capt. Sinclair has been one of our most dedicated and hardest working investigators,” said Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police. “We thank J.P. for his exemplary service to the state and wish him well in his retirement.”
Sinclair said he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family, including his two high-school-age children. “I’m going to be at every soccer game, every basketball game,” he said, adding that his oldest child is in college. But he’s also going to miss his colleagues with the Vermont State Police.
“It’s a family,” Sinclair said. “Camaraderie. Teamwork.”
His last day on duty is Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Following Sinclair’s retirement, Capt Jeremy Hill will transfer from Special Operations Commander to lead the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Capt Michael Manley will transfer from B Troop Commander to Special Operations Commander. Their transfers are effective Sunday, Sept 16, 2018.
Members of the media who wish to interview Capt Sinclair before his retirement should contact Adam Silverman, the Vermont State Police public information officer, at [email protected].
Photo attached: Capt JP Sinclair, second from right, joins other members of the Vermont State Police during graduation ceremonies for the 105th Basic Training Class at the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford on Friday, May 25, 2018. Sinclair is retiring effective Sept 14, 2018, following 31 years of service to the state of Vermont.