Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 16, 2019 3:00 P.M. 10/16/2019 - 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 Executive Assistant Lori 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 Matthew Canfield 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. Resignations/Retirement Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. 5.B.i. PT Communications Specialist Jessica Ialuna Chief Canfield advised we received a resignation from Dispatcher Jessica Ialuna, who was a Part Time Dispatcher with us and had been full time prior to that. He advised she has recently moved to the Bedford area for family reasons and is not able to commute for the part time position. He advised we have advertised for several part time positions, as well as a full time position to fill Dispatcher Kori Low's position, for which we have received a significant amount of applications and there are interviews scheduled for next week. 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Captain - Support Division Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised Captain Graton has been monitoring the budget and we are on track. He advised we are in the process of putting together the budget requests, which are due at the beginning of December, and once those are assembled they will be presented to the Commission for review before being submitted. 6.A.i. Orders & Bulletins 1/7  6.B. Captain - Operations Division Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised PumpkinFest is this weekend and we are busy with the planning for that and have put up several cameras in the area today. 6.B.i. Hirings Chief Canfield advised we conducted a recruitment test last Saturday for police officer positions at Great Bay. He indicated they received about nineteen applications from individuals interested in working for the Laconia Police Department and the PT test is scheduled for Sunday, with interviews to follow next week. Commissioner Tarr inquired about our vacancy status. Chief Canfield advised we currently have three openings and one is in the pipeline and near completion of the background. He indicated we are looking for two out of this pool of candidates. He advised that in addition to this, our summer parking enforcement employees will be graduating from college in the Spring and went through this testing process and are very interested should we have openings in the Spring, as well as an individual who will be getting out of the Coast Guard. He indicated this will put us at capacity with a list of people waiting as well. 6.C. Legal Prosecutor 7. COMMISSION ACTION 7.A. Acceptance of minutes from previous meeting On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the meeting minutes of September 18, 2019, were accepted. 7.B. Out-of-State School(s) 7.B.i. Use of Force Summit 2019 - Captain Allan Graton and Captain Michael Finogle Chief Canfield advised the Use of Force Summit is a summit conducted in Connecticut by a well known Use of Force Attorney, Erik Daigle. This was attended by both Captains last year and is one of the higher liability He advised there are a lot of great takeaways and we've made some changes to our Use of Force reporting and he would be very beneficial for them to attend again this year and they are requesting attendance at an out-of-state school Connecticut to do so. Chairman Whittum advised he noted the tuition on the school request; however, there is nothing listed for meals, room or travel, and inquired if those are included in the tuition itself. Chief Canfield advised he doesn't believe so and they typically are not and that he can get the Commission those costs. Commissioner Tarr inquired if Captain Graton and Captain Finogle will come back as in-house trainers. Chief Canfield advised it is more department policy and procedure as far as the investigation and uses of force, such as whether it's a taser incident or a hands on use of force and how we are reporting it, as well as proper review. He indicated we have good procedures in place due to National Accreditation Standards, but Erik Daigle is an expert in uses of force from a legal perspective, so there are always things to gleen from that as far as the review process. Commissioner Mello inquired if officers have a review every year of use of force. Chief Canfield advised they go through defensive tactics training every other year, taser training every year, and firearms (classroom portion as well as range training) twice a year. 2/7  Commissioner Tarr advised in the past there has been a yearly Use of Force Report that the Commissioners could review. Chief Canfield advised that is correct and will be compiled at the end of January and presented at the January meeting. Chairman Whittum stated that pending the receipt of information requested on costs and the Chief's opinion that this is a liability issue, he will entertain a Motion to approve the out-of-state school. On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the above listed school is approved. 7.C. Notice of Holidays - 2020 On a Motion made by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the 2020 Notice of Holidays was accepted. Commissioner Tarr inquired if this for sworn officers or everyone. Chief Canfield advised it is for both and is the same holiday scheduled that the City adopts. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Highlights report. He advised the list says there was one fatal accident; however, that is not accurate and there were no fatal accidents for the month of September. Commissioner Tarr asked if the 152 physical arrests for September are for the entire department or just patrol. Chief Canfield advised it's for the entire department. Commissioner Tarr how that relates to the number of arrests noted in the CIU Activity Report. Chief Canfield indicated that if a patrol officer takes a case such as a computer related crime or a burglary investigation, they might send parts of that upstairs to detectives to work and detectives may fume for prints or assist with search warrants on a car that we receive for a drug investigation, but that is done as a supplement and goes back to the patrol officer, who will then generate the warrant. The arrest statistic would then fall more with patrol than it would detectives and they wouldn't get the arrest number assigned to them. He advised this occurs frequently with motor vehicle stops, where a stop is made and there is probable cause to develop a search warrant, resulting in the car being impounded and detectives assisting. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics report. Commissioner Tarr inquired about the dip in initial cases between 2018 and 2019 to date. Chief Canfield advised it ebbs and flows and they take a lot of the serious cases, so some of these cases will be referred directly to detectives. He advised they are a little short staffed in detectives right now, so it's a little more selective on what types of cases they are being assigned. Commissioner Tarr inquired if there has been any changes in Department Policy that would explain the number and Chief Canfield advised there has not. Chairman Whittum inquired what is included in the "computer related" category . Chief Canfield advised it is usually are ICAC (International Crimes Against Children) cases. He indicated that although we are not part of the ICAC Team, which is based out of Portsmouth and Concord, a lot of times they will develop on-line cyber tips leading to child pornography, typically distribution of child pornography, and when it comes back to our jurisdiction they will refer the case to us and we'll either work with them or take the case over. He advised that is the majority of the computer related crimes. Chairman Whittum asked about being part of the team and Chief Canfield advised that we do work closely with them; however, we have not assigned someone to that team. Chairman 3/7  Whittum inquired if we have a connection with someone on the team and Chief Canfield advised we do. 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised that although it is still early in the year, our budget is right on track. Commissioner Tarr inquired when the budget presentation will take place and Chief Canfield advised the submittal is due and we haven't actually received the date, but it's usually the beginning of December. He advised he thinks the budget presentation will take place somewhere in the May or June time frame. Commissioner Tarr inquired if we receive general parameters from the City regarding increase percentage guidelines and Chief Canfield advised we do and it's usually based on the the CPI index, which is running about 1.8% right now. Commissioner Tarr inquired if we have a lot of grant funded people right now in the sworn division and Chief Canfield advised we currently have two under the COPS Hiring Grant. Commissioner Tarr inquired if those are set to expire in 2020 and Chief Canfield advised he believes there is another two years on those. Chairman Whittum noted Chief Canfield does an outstanding job on the budget. Chief Canfield advised we certainly try to keep overtime at the absolute minimum by moving people around and the majority goes to court time. He advised it does help to keep the budget in line. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Statistics report. No discussion. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised there were a couple of nice letters received. He indicated a thank you was received for the anniversary of 911 and another received from a gentleman who helped with the Chaos and Kindness Event in Lakeport thanking our officers who worked the event. Commissioner Tarr inquired about the correspondence from Wescott Law packet referencing a referral. Chief Canfield advised he will have to get the particulars on that. Commissioner Tarr stated that in the correspondence from Mr. Darling, paragraph two says "As the event continued to grow in size, the lack of time to plan and prepare for this event created issues that if the City had better and timelier information, were avoidable", and he inquired about those issues. Chief Canfield indicated it was a very large event for that location and we worked very closely with the promoters. He indicated how it came together with the sheer number of people, especially given the location, created certain challenges, the biggest one being the traffic flow, especially at the time of heavy numbers of attendees. He also indicated there were also some businesses in the area that were impacted by people parking in their parking areas that interrupted their business flow and they were not pleased. He advised they have been referred to the Special Events Committee for their debrief on the 6th. Chairman Whittum noted that realistically we did not have a lot time for planning of this event like we do with Motorcycle Week with planning months in advance. He indicated we had a limited time scope to plan this event. Chief Canfield agreed and indicated it came together very quickly and things changed very rapidly every day. He indicated it was very challenging to plan. 4/7  Commissioner Tarr inquired what the estimated attendance was for the event and Chief Canfield advised 10,000 people at the height of it for the fireworks time frame. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT A. Chief Canfield advised yesterday he went to Nashua and sat on round table panel with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, along with some mental health experts from both the military and law enforcement, as well as the Nashua Chief and the Manchester Chief of Police, regarding officer resiliency and officer suicide and how to deal with these types of issues and how to move forward with these types of issues in the State. He advised the safety and wellness of officers is a very real and very serious topic. He indicated we lost five police officers in the State to suicide last year. He indicated Nashua had a recent suicide of a Captain. He indicated it was a round table discussion on how we can better proceed and how we can improve so we don't lose officers. He advised it was a very productive meeting. B. Chief Canfield advised he met with Lakes Region Community Services Council and did a site security assessment with them, as well as working with the schools regarding the Emergency Preparedness Board, which will be meeting in a couple of weeks. He advised he is also working with Temple B'Nai on Court Street and indicated their religious holiday just passed and there were concerns about terrorism and retribution. He indicated we have worked with them and will continue to work with them next week as well. C. Chief Canfield advised we are preparing for Halloween and will be doing some community events with the Pleasant Street School with their annual Halloween parade and Holy Trinity School for their Halloween event. He indicated we also preparing for coverage Halloween night with the event itself, which will be held from 5-8 pm for trick-or-treating. Commissioner Tarr inquired if there has been any more activity than normal at the high school and middle school concerning issues with student assaults or Criminal Threatening. He advised in the activity report for the police department in the Daily Sun there appears to be responses to the Laconia High School or the Laconia Middle School on a weekly basis for Criminal Threatening or an assault and inquired if that activity is unusual. Chief Canfield advised he doesn't think that it's unusual at all and believes having officers in both schools cause some of these issues to be reported sooner and get addressed. He advised this probably deters a lot of negative outcome down the road. He stated he doesn't believe that it is more than it has been. D. Chief Canfield reviewed the Overdose Statistics Report and noted the numbers are trending downwards a lot. He advised with that being said, we are seeing a lot more meth than heroin mixed with fentanyl and that is probably a large part of it. He advised he is not saying the drug problem is going away by any means, but there is certainly a change in dynamic. Commissioner Tarr noted that it's trending in a good direction and Chief Canfield agreed. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular Meeting date of November 20, 2019 was confirmed. 14. OTHER BUSINESS 15. CITIZEN COMMENTS 5/7  Councilor Cheney of Ward 1 and liaison to the Police Commission, advised last night at the City Council Meeting, a businessman from Lakeport expressed his concerns about parking for extended periods of time, sometimes all day in two hour zones. He advised this businessman told the Council that he called the police department several times and received assistance on several occasions, but became concerned about the last time he called. He advised this time he was told there were not enough officers and he should call the City Council about the problem. Councilor Cheney advised one of the Councilors spoke up and told the businessman that the Council makes ordinances and policy and does not enforce the law and that is the job of the police department. Councilor Cheney advised, in his words, he was a bit resentful of the implication that somehow the Council had failed to provide significant manpower. Councilor Cheney advised he has strong feelings about the level of manpower in the department and he intends to work toward improving that, but he also feels obligated to suggest to the Commission and Chief Canfield that additional effort be made in Lakeport, downtown and other areas to not only deal with the things that have to be done, but also parking issues, which are sometimes more important to the average citizen than significant crimes, being a matter of your personal priorities. He advised he is here on behalf of the City Council to request the police department make an effort to improve the parking enforcement throughout the City, to include left hand to curb, parking on the sidewalks (which occurs quite a bit in the south end), and now this from Lakeport. He advised any effort the department can make would be appreciated by the Council. He advised he has every intention of trying to bolster the department, but some enforcement of these issues needs to be done in the meantime. Commissioner Tarr inquired about this business person and if the parking issue he raised had to do with overtime parking or people parking in "no parking" spots. Councilor Cheney advised his business is right on Union Avenue in Lakeport and he claimed that the marked parking spaces are two hour limit parking and people are parking there all day long. He advised he doesn't think the businessman was able to identify, or he didn't identify to the Council, specifically persons who might be the problem, but he got the impression in listening to him that it's not one or two people and it's a number of people who park there for extended periods of time and much longer than two hours. Councilor Cheney advised he is sympathetic to the fact that it's not always easy to pay attention to someone who has been there for two hours, but he would suggest that a little effort on this end may get us through the winter if they realize the police department is paying attention to the issue. Commissioner Tarr advised he noted in 2019 the department issued 293 violations for overtime parking, but only 2 in September. Chief Canfield advised a big part is that in the summer there are students who enforce parking during the summer and we see a greater amount of enforcement for the latter part of June, July and August, and then that dies off. He advised in November, when we start issuing parking warnings for overnight parking for the snow ban, it picks up again. He advised with that being said, this will be duly noted and he will have officers pay more attention. Councilor Cheney suggested that the police department look into the idea of asking for one of those parking enforcement positions be permanent and Chief Canfield agreed. He advised he thinks a strong case could be made for that. He advised they could be given an older car and let them enforce parking throughout the City and not just the downtown area. He advised obviously it is up to Chief Canfield and the Police Commission. He reiterated that the Council was a bit disappointed and he is sure they understand that the Chief didn't say these things and it was someone, perhaps a dispatcher or Watch Commander or someone, who probably was frustrated that particular night due to not having enough people. Nevertheless, he hopes Chief Canfield can encourage them not to make those kinds of statements. Chief Canfield agreed. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3, II) 17. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Whittum entertained a Motion by Commissioner Tarr to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 3:32 pm. 6/7 7/7