Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION Meeting Minutes June 20, 2018 3:00 P.M. 6/20/2018 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Whittum called the meeting to order at the above date and time. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairman Whittum lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Recording Secretary Executive Assistant Lori A. Marsh 4. ROLL CALL 4.A. Chairman recognizes Police Commission members present Chairman Whittum recognized Commissioners present - Chairman Douglas Whittum, Commissioner Thomas Tarr and Commissioner Frank Mello. 4.B. Chairman recognizes Staff present Chairman Whittum recognized Staff present - Chief Matthew Canfield, Lieutenant Richard Simmons, Lieutenant Thomas Swett, Lieutenant Michael Finogle, and Prosecutor James Sawyer. 4.C. Chairman recognizes a quorum has been established and there are three Commission members present 5. PERSONNEL MATTERS 5.A. Commendations & Awards Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. No Discussion. 1 5.B. Training Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised Capt. Graton received an invitation and attended an exercise having to do with Motorcycle Week; however, he has yet spoken with Capt. Graton about the details. Chief Canfield advised it was a drill in Worcester at the airport and it is his understanding that it was regarding a major catastrophe, almost like a terrorist attack in the New England area, and part of it involved Motorcycle Week response and planning. He advised he has not spoken with Capt. Graton in depth about it, but understands it was a good training exercise that involved all of our Federal partners down in that area. 5.B.i. Orders & Bulletins No discussion. 5.C. Miscellaneous - Laconia Links Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. No discussion. 5.D. Resignations/Retirement Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. No discussion. 5.E. Hirings Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised there is a PT test scheduled for June 30th. He also indicated he went down to the Great Bay testing and spoke with approximately 120-130 people who participated in the test and we are receiving applications for the next process. He indicated Oral Boards are scheduled to take place by July 30th and he is hopeful that backgrounds on potential candidates will be done by mid-August. Commissioner Tarr inquired about the PT test and Lt. Finogle explained that it is comprised of push-ups, sit-ups and a 1 1/2 mile run. Commissioner Tarr inquired about the success at the bench marks for each one of those and Lt. Finogle advised they are at the 35th percentile for the Cooper Standards and it's based on age group. 5.F. Promotions/Classification Change Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. 2  No discussion. 6. DIVISION/BUREAU COMMANDER'S FORUM 6.A. Operations/Support Division Commander Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Simmons. Lt. Simmons advised Chief Canfield will be doing a report on Bike Week, but he wanted to point out that the Patrol force and Detectives did a good job during Bike Week. He advised we ask a lot of the Sergeants during the week and he was really impressed with what they did. Lt. Simmons advised there are some patrol shortages right now with openings and people who are in training. He advised overtime comes up at each meeting and we will probably see a small rise in overtime, but we are doing the best we can. He advised upcoming events are the 4th of July and 7th of July with fireworks, a parade and events at Opechee Park. He advised also coming up are the Citizens Academy and National Night Out. He advised we are very busy right now, with a lot of things planned and a lot coming up. He advised with the shortages, it is kind of tough, but people are really stepping up. He advised that with the hirings that are going on, a lot of the officers are doing some of the in-house training and it's putting a lot on the FTO's. 6.B. Support Division Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. No discussion. 6.C. Operations Division Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Simmons. No discussion. 6.D. Detective Division Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Swett. No discussion. 6.E. Legal Division Chairman Whittum recognized Pros. Sawyer. Pros. Sawyer advised he has mentioned an intern in the past who was in the process. He advised unfortunately, when he contacted her to bring her in, she advised she accepted a paying job near her. She advised it's a summer position, so she may come back in the Fall. He advised he left the door open for her to come back. 3  Pros. Sawyer also advised he was solicited by a software company about case management for prosecution, Carpell, which all County Attorneys have. He advised he is waiting to get some numbers back, at which time he will approach Chief Canfield when he has more information. He advised right now he does not have a case management program for prosecution other than IMC, which is not suitable for prosecution other than for subpoenas. He advised he received some preliminary numbers, which he will present to Chief Canfield, based upon a four person plan. He advised he thinks this will help organizationally. 7. COMMISSION ACTION 7.A. Acceptance of minutes from previous meeting On a Motion made by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the meeting minutes of May 16, 2018,were accepted as distributed. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield referenced the statistics contained in the Department Monthly Highlights report. Commissioner Tarr questioned the number of physical arrests and noted that it seemed we are way ahead compared to last year and inquired if there was an error. Chief Canfield advised he believes that the 111 number is not accurate. Commissioner Tarr noted it was a pretty big discrepancy and Chief Canfield advised he will check with Robin Moyer to confirm the statistics. Commissioner Tarr requested an e-mail confirming this. Chief Canfield advised we typically run approximately 1200 physical arrests per year, so he believes the 111 last year did not get corrected on the spreadsheet. 8.B. Monthly Fleet Report Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised we took liberty of car #8, which had been involved in a car accident. He advised it is just waiting to be lettered. He advised car #18 had minor repairs. Commissioner Tarr inquired if all cruisers have the CO detectors installed. Lt. Finogle advised all the SUV's have them installed, even the new ones that are said to be "adapted" have them installed with the exhaust modified. He also indicated that they have gone off in the ones that have been modified. 8.C. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. 4  No discussion. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield referenced the statistics contained in the Monthly Traffic Report. He advised the number of parking tickets can be attributed to the CRO's working for the summer. 8.E. Budget Print-Out Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised the budget is in good shape and we're wrapping up some year end expenses. He advised we always monitor it closely, but certainly the last couple of months we monitor it very closely and feel very confident we will end in the black. Commissioner Tarr inquired if the numbers roll over into next fiscal year and Chief Canfield advised no and the money goes back into the General Fund. Chairman Whittum advised historically the PD has done an outstanding job with the budget. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. No discussion. Chairman Whittum recognized the nice letter regarding the two officers who attended the Kiwanis Club Bike Rodeo. Chief Canfield advised that was from Steve Loughlin, who is a very big supporter of the police department. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chairman Whittum recognizes Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised the Commander of the the Regional T.A.R. Team (Accident Reconstruction Team run by the County), Mark Lewandoski - Belmont Chief of Police, is retiring and going to a Part-Time status. He advised the By-Laws of the Regional Team require that the Commander be a Full-Time Police Chief in the County and Chief Canfield advised he volunteered to step up into that role, which is supported by the Belknap County Chief's of Police Association. He advised Capt. Graton is the Assistant Commander of that team, so it looks like we'll be taking over the Accident Reconstruction Team and taking the lead, which is a very good resource for not only us, but also for the County. He advised accident reconstruction is certainly a gift that takes a lot of training and is a real specialty when you get into the math and the speed calculations and such. 5 Chief Canfield additionally advised that Robin Moyer has been working on replacing our Crime Reports that are found on-line involving Crime Report mapping. He advised we're looking to transition away from that and go to a program called Tip 411. He advised not only will this program do the crime mapping for us that we can put on-line where people can view crime in different areas of the City. We are looking to tie it into our Crimeline Program that we currently have, but it's anonymous reporting that people can report tips to us via text message with photos. He advised it would go to our dispatch center and, depending on the type of tip it is, it would be directly routed to the appropriate officer/detective. He advised something like a drug tip would automatically be routed to detectives. He said this would be a little more up to speed rather than writing down information on a piece of paper and funneling it to the right person. He advised at some point, probably in late August or beginning of September, we will be rolling out a press release when it is up and operational. He advised hopefully this will generate some more reporting of anonymous information that we can use for all kinds of crime and drug investigations. He advised people don't necessarily pick up the phone to give us information and are putting it on Facebook, which is not really the media for that purpose. 10.A. Performance Assessment Report Cards Chief Canfield advised we received 9 performance assessment cards, all of which were A's and had nice positive comments on them. 10.B. Overdose Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the overdose statistics. No discussion. 10.C. Motorcycle Week Chief Canfield advised we responded to 36 total accidents during the week, 16 of which involved injuries, and the fatal motorcycle accident on Watson Road. He advised we made a total of 65 arrests City wide, 24 Protective Custody arrests, 26 drug related offenses, 3 DWI's, 4 Simple Assault Domestic Violence related, 1 Simple Assault and 8 Resisting Arrests. Chief Canfield advised the crowds were probably the biggest he's seen in the past 4-5 years and significant over the past few years. He advised that weather certainly played a big part, but the statistics are relatively low compared to the numbers that appear. He advised that with the amount of alcohol that was served during the week, it certainly was a very safe week overall and our officers did a great job, along with all of our law enforcement partners. Commissioner Tarr inquired if the statistics just reviewed are consistent with years past based on the crowd size. Chief Canfield advised they are, indicating he believes our arrest statistics are right on par with what they have been in the past few years, but the crowds were significantly more. He indicated the number of accidents is up slightly from what they were last year, but the majority of those were non-injury accidents. He advised when you get that number of people and motorcycles around, it tends to happen. 6  Lt. Simmons advised he believes there were more active days this year. He advised usually there is a day or two where it's raining and there's not a large amount of people. He indicated that with the weather being great every day for the most part, there was a good crowd that was very active. Commissioner Mello advised he was able to ride with Sergeant Noyes on the Saturday before and there seemed to be a lot of motorcycles around at that time, but it seemed there was more activity in downtown than elsewhere and commended the officers, as they seemed to be right out straight. Had advised the next Saturday he was advised downtown was again out straight and busy and when he arrived up in the Weirs there seemed to be a few more people there than last year at the time he was there and it seemed very orderly and good and everyone was happy. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular or Special Meeting Date of July 18, 2018 was confirmed. 14. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 15. CITIZEN COMMENTS No discussion. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3, II) RSA 91-A:3II(a) - The dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee or the disciplining of such employee or the investigation of any charges against him/her, unless the employee affected (1)ha s a right to a meeting, and (2) requests that the meeting be open, in which case the request shall ge granted. On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, in accordance with RSA 91-a:3II(a), the Laconia Police Commission entered into Non-Public Session at 3:22 p.m. At 3:55 p.m., the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, with a unanimous vote to maintain the Minutes as confidential, in accordance with RSA 91-A:3III. Chairman Whittum entertained a Motion to seal the Minutes, moved by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously. 7 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. 8