Police Commission

11/21/2018 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Whittum called the meeting to order at the above date and time. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Commission Tarr lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Executive Assistant Lori A. Marsh 4. ROLL CALL 4.A. Chairman Whittum recognized Commissioners present - Chairman Douglas Whittum, Commissioner Thomas Tarr and Commissioner Frank Mello. 4.B. Chairman Whittum recognized Staff present - Chief Canfield, Captain Graton, Lieutenant Simmons and Prosecutor Sawyer. 4.C. Chairman Whittum recognized a quorum has been established and there are three Commission members present. 5. PERSONNEL MATTERS 5.A. Commendations & Awards No discussion. 5.B. Training Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised there are two out-of-State schools to present that were last minute. He advised one is for Field Training Officer school. He advised we are having a difficult time getting out Officers into Field Training Officer schools at the Academy, as they are in high demand. He advised we have three who have been selected to become Field Training Officers. He advised a school in Andover, Massachusetts was willing to take at least two of our Officers and that starts on Monday and goes through Friday. He advised they receive the same certification and it's the same model as what we have been using and it's just a different location for training. On a Motion made by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the Field Training Officer school request was approved unanimously. Lt. Finogle advised the second school is from the Daigle Law Group in Connecticut for a Use of Force Summit for he and Captain Graton. He advised that school goes from November 27th through November 29th. Chief Canfield advised that use of force is a very high liability topic area, along with driving, and this is one area we have looked at. He advised Attorney Daigle teaches this Use of Force Summit 1/7  and is considered an expert in use of force, more for the case law and the policy end of it. He advised there are some changes in use of force reporting in Law Enforcement as a result of the President's 21st Century Task Force Report that came out about four years ago. He advised he feels its important that we attend that and glean the latest information on use of force reporting and how we can better our policies here. On a Motion made by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the Daigle Law Group - 2018 Use of Force Summit request was approved. 5.B.i. Orders & Bulletins No discussion. 5.C. Miscellaneous - Laconia Links No discussion. 5.D. Resignations/Retirement No discussion. 5.E. Hirings 5.E.i. Swearing In Of New Patrol Officers Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle introduced the five new recruits. He advised Beau Perras is from Groveton, New Hampshire and worked for State Police as a Part-Time Dispatcher. He advised Sam Maloney lives in Sanbornton and was working in the business community. He advised Jonathan Milne graduated college out of Massachusetts. He advised Andrew Kuc is local home grown and is currently in the Army Reserves as an MP. He advised Daniel Boudreau is in the National Guard as an MP and is from Tewksbury, Massachusetts. All five recruits were sworn in by City Clerk Cheryl Hebert. Chief Canfield noted that Andrew Kuc was in one of the original Criminal Justice classes through the high school approximately six or seven years ago and is a product of that. He went through the program and continued on, so it's nice to have him come back to us. He advised that is a direct result of that program. Lt. Simmons also noted that Mr. Kuc was also an intern with our agency. 5.F. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Captain Chairman Whittum recognized Capt. Graton. Capt. Graton advised he is currently working on the budget to be presented December 28th. 2/7 6.B. Operations Lieutenant Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Simmons. Lt. Simmons advised this Sunday is the Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting ceremony. He advised there will be some changes to include vendors in front of the Colonial and on Canal Street. He advised the Highway Safety Grants are back up and running. He advised the Citizens Academy graduation was held recently and he recognized Officer Eric Adams for his work on that. He advised part of the graduation included a 10 year reunion it went very well. He mentioned the statistics for patrol and detectives and that they go by the current month and the corresponding month from last year. He advised last year we had quite a difference in manpower in both detectives and patrol. He advised we are now up to full staff or above; however, a number of them are in training and some are out on leave. He advised currently we have fifteen active patrol officers on the schedule and three full time detectives upstairs, with a fourth one who is assigned to the Drug Task Force. He advised this time last year we had nineteen patrol officers on the schedule with five detectives upstairs, one of them being a patrol officer who was assigned a temporary spot. He advised that when looking at the statistics, we are comparing eighteen people right now versus twenty-four people last year, which is a pretty significant difference. He advised we do have some people coming off of training soon, as well as the current hiring, so he thinks we are in good shape and it will just take a little bit of time to get those people up and running. 6.C. Support Lieutenant Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised aside from hiring, we have revamped the exterior of the evidence room. He advised the new drying locker was used the other night for the first time and the outer evidence area was reconfigured with more usable work space for processing evidence. He advised it also makes it a little bit safer, especially with the types of drugs that we are processing now to be able to contain it in one area and process it properly. 6.D. Investigations Lieutenant Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics and noted there was a significant amount of work on the recent case on Clay Street involving follow ups, search warrants and subsequent work on that case. He noted it was previously discussed at commission meetings that sex offender registrations can run about 45 minutes to 1 hour each, so they can be rather time consuming depending on the type of registration being completed. He noted the training hours specifically involved Detective Horan, who is a Firearms Instructor and he conducted a lot of the in-service training, so he was away from his regular duties in Detectives. Commissioner Tarr inquired about the Felony arrest category and Felony charges and requested clarification on where we are this year versus a year ago, as it seems askew to him. Chief Canfield advised it really ebbs and flows in Detectives when they make Felony arrests, as they are based on the investigations and when they culminate in the actual arrest and whether they go to direct indictment or not. He advised he will get further clarification on why that number is "0", but they fluctuate a lot more in Detectives for when the warrants are generated and some cases conclude sooner than others. 3/7  Lt. Simmons advised Felony First changed that quite a bit with a lot more indictments as opposed to arrests. Chief Canfield advised he will have Lt. Butler respond to this. 6.E. Legal Prosecutor Prosecutor Sawyer noted at the last meeting it was mentioned there was someone who was interested in applying to volunteer with the Victim Services Unit. He advised this person did follow through with an application and it has been forwarded to Capt. Graton to be forwarded on for a background. He advised hopefully she will be up and running within the next month or two. 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 October 24, 2018 were accepted as distributed. 7.B. Notice of Holidays - 2019 On a Motion made by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Tarr, and passed unanimously, the 2019 Notice of Holidays was approved. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the enclosed Monthly Activity Report. He noted the statistic for suicides is incorrect, as there was one for the month of October. He advised he is working on getting this corrected. 8.B. Monthly Fleet Report Chairman Whittum recognized Lt. Finogle. Lt. Finogle advised three new SUV's were delivered, one being the K9 car, which is out on the street fully equipped. He advised the two others are in production and will hopefully be ready in December. 8.C. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics No discussion. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the enclosed Monthly Traffic Statistics report. He noted the parking tickets issued and advised we are taking a little bit more of a proactive approach in addressing the on- 4/7  street parking, which is prohibited by the Winter Parking Ban and we will be a little more aggressive in pursuing and enforcing that. Commissioner Mello mentioned the new set up at the IGA downtown at the crosswalk and inquired if it is working. Chief Canfield advised he thinks it will work and that it is the same thing that Concord did, as well as what they did in the Weirs, indicating it brought the curbs in a little bit. He noted we have had several serious accidents at that location, including at least one fatal that he can recall. He noted it should slow traffic a little bit, making it easier to cross. He advised there is a fair amount of pedestrian traffic in that area that particularly comes from Sunrise Towers and that direction. Commissioner Mello noted it should stop the traffic coming up to the light from passing on the right there and Chief Canfield agreed. 8.E. Budget Print-Out Chairman Whittum recognized Capt. Graton. Chairman Whittum inquired about what has been expended to date and Capt. Graton indicated we are at 25.78% used and we are directly in line to be at at a little over 33.00% used or a little under. Chairman Whittum inquired about the percent expended year to date and noted it says 2015/2016. Capt. Graton indicated that is a clerical error. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised a thank you was received from Chief Dean of the UNH Police Department thanking officers who worked Homecoming. He advised there was a thank you letter received for a fatal accident we covered several years ago on Parade Road. He advised this person thinks about it every year at the beginning of November when the accident happened and she was very happy with the way the department handled it. He advised a thank you received for Capt. Graton from one of Commissioner Maheux's family members, who he had assisted down the stairs and this really touched her. He advised there was a thank you received for a $500.00 donation made by the LPRA to the WOW trail, which he recognized Lt. Finogle for initiating. He advised Lt. Finogle ran the entire 10k in the cold rain and he initiated this fundraising effort and got that money from the LPRA in furtherance of the WOW Trail. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. 10.A. Performance Assessment Report Cards Chief Canfield advised we received two Performance Assessment Cards, both of which were rated as A's. He advised we will be transitioning from the current survey with the blue cards to the new business cards (copy provided to the Commissioners to view). He advised this idea was taken from another agency and a little bit more user friendly for the officer. He advised the survey has been modernized with a QR code on the back, which can be scanned with a QR scanner and 5/7  links directly to the survey. He advised hopefully we'll receive more feedback from other members of the population. 10.B. Overdose Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Overdose statistics report. Noted we actually have ten suspected overdose deaths, up one from last year. Commissioner Tarr noted that for 2017 at this juncture we were at 128, so we're under. Chief Canfield agreed and stressed the hopes that our total number of overdose deaths stay down. He advised it's slightly alarming that our deaths are up more than last year at this point, but we're actually over year to date last year. 10.C. 2018 Homeland Security Grant Program Competitive Application Chief Canfield noted in the packet was a letter from Homeland Security, which was a response to an application submitted, worked on by Tom Swett prior to his retirement. He advised it was to include security for the police department with a fence around the yard and several other security improvements. He advised that unfortunately we were not approved for that grant, as they didn't deem it a necessary Statewide security risk. He advised we will work on that project in another way. Chief Canfield also advised a letter was received from the Department of Safety appointing him to the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee. He advised this committee will work on the FirstNet program specifically for New Hampshire. He advised he will be on this committee, as well as a sub-committee addressing this. He advised it is basically a cellular network for First Responders that will drastically improve our coverage for our computers in our cars, as well as cell phones, and give us priority over that. The Commission congratulated Chief Canfield on this. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular or Special Meeting date of December 19, 2018 was confirmed. 14. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 15. CITIZEN COMMENTS Dennis Lintz of Laconia approached the podium and wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. He inquired if there is a difference in cost for a full page 8x10" color/glossy photo or if it is still $1.00. Executive Assistant Marsh advised that copies of reports, as well as photos, are all printed on regular copy paper and not glossy and both are $1.00 per page. 6/7  Mr. Lintz also inquired about a photo that he provided to the Commission and Chief Canfield at a past meeting. Chief Canfield advised he was not sure what photo Mr. Lintz was referring to. 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) has a right to a meeting, and (2) request that the meeting be open, in which case the request shall be 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 3:28 p.m. At 3:45 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:3,III. Chairman Whittum entertained a motion to seal the Minutes, moved by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously. 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:36 p.m. 7/7