Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 20, 2019 3:00 P.M. 11/20/2019 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Whittum called the meeting to Order at the above date and time. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Commissioner Mello 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, Captain Allan Graton and Captain Michael Finogle. 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. Resignation - Administrative Assistant Cheryl DeTurk Chief Canfield advised Administrative Assistant Cheryl DeTurk has submitted her resignation and will be leaving effective December 20th to go to New Mexico. He advised we have advertised for the position and applications close on Monday, so we will be looking to replace her in time to allow a two week overlap for training. Commissioner Tarr inquired if we've found a replacement in dispatch. Chief Canfield advised the backgrounds are not quite complete yet. Commissioner Tarr inquired if we have sufficient resources in the dispatch area to carry on until a replacement is found and Chief Canfield advised there is. He indicated Captain Finogle has been working on the plan for that recruitment and the backgrounds are nearly complete. 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Captain - Support Division 1/5  Chairman Whittum recognized Captain Graton. Captain Graton advised we have received four resumes so far for Cheryl DeTurk's position and the deadline is Monday to submit a cover letter and resume. Commissioner Tarr inquired if the position is full time and Captain Graton advised it is. Captain Graton advised the radio system is getting closer to completion, indicating all of the equipment has been staged at the police department and hospital, and next week they will stage all of the radio equipment at the Parade Road location and then work on the Water Tower in the Weirs. He indicated we are hopeful for January 1st to get switched over, as we have been experiencing problems recently with the radio system involving phone lines and such, which had been taken care of; however, this is just another reason to get this completed as quickly as possible. Captain Graton advised the budget is looking on track and we are looking to replace car #9 that was totaled in a deer strike. He advised Chief Canfield was able to find a municipal supply company in Massachusetts that has a SUV that we are going to purchase to replace that car. He advised we are still waiting for the other three vehicles that were purchased through Capital and, as of last week, they still hadn't been assigned VIN numbers, so they weren't in the build yet. Chairman Whittum inquired if insurance was going to cover the totaled vehicle and Captain Graton advised no, indicating we will receive some money from the insurance company for that and the rest will need to come out of our budget. 6.A.i. Orders & Bulletins 6.B. Captain - Operations Division Chairman Whittum recognized Captain Finogle. Captain Finogle advised we are working on an Operations Plan to support the Light Up Laconia event. He indicated the route has changed and it will be at Rotary Park. He indicated we have more than enough officers to handle that. Captain Finogle advised, in reference to hirings, we are still going through backgrounds and have three potential strong candidates for hire. He advised two of the backgrounds have been completed and we are waiting on the third. He advised if all goes well, they will be on board by January 6th to start their training and in the academy in May. Commissioner Tarr inquired where that leaves us overall and Captain Finogle advised that will bring us to full staff. He advised we also have two hires for the summer time as backup if we do get a vacancy. 6.B.i. Hirings 6.C. Legal Prosecutor No discussion. 7. COMMISSION ACTION 7.A. Acceptance of minutes from previous meeting On a Motion made by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Tarr, and passed unanimously, the meeting minutes of October 16, 2019 were accepted. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights 2/5  Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Highlights Report. No further discussion. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics report. No further discussion. 8.C. Budget Reports Commissioner Tarr inquired if the budget presentation is coming up next month and Captain Graton advised no. He advised the budget has to be submitted the second week of December to Finance and then they will schedule the presentations. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Statistics report. He noted Captain Finogle, along with Lieutenant Noyes, have been working on the Highway Safety Grants, which will be starting soon, in the culmination of Distracted Driving and DWI Enforcement. He advised they have put together a really good plan to utilize grant money to boost traffic enforcement and identify problem areas in the City that need attention. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised we received several nice thank you letters, one in particular for a house check that we conducted; a thank you from Holy Trinity School for the auction we participated in; and one for a funeral service that we attended. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield indicated he would like to thank Captain Graton for his work on the radio system project. He advised this has been an almost two year project and required a very significant amount of work, which Captain Graton has undertaken in addition to his other duties. He indicated it has become laborious as far as working with several different vendors, one of which had a lot of requirements no one anticipated. He advised it has required an incredible amount of work on Captain Graton's part and he is very thankful for all his efforts with this. He indicated this upgrade was much needed and he is thankful to the Police Commissioner, City Council, as well as Councilor Cheney., for pushing that project forward before we suffered catastrophic failure with our current radio system. Chief Canfield advised he would also like to thank Captain Finogle for his work on recruitment. He indicated this area is easily overlooked and under-appreciated. He advised when he puts together the process for either civilian staff or sworn police officers, it requires an amazing amount of work and hours with putting together the written test, the recruitment events, the actual interview processes, and the backgrounds. He advised Captain Finogle's diligence and work is very much appreciated. He advised Captain Finogle has sought after candidates, who may have gone to other agencies in the southern part of the State, if it wasn't for his hard work to entice them in coming to our agency. He advised we wouldn't have the quality of applicants we have now and it's very encouraging to know that we have those really good applicants currently in the background process and we are going to be full staff shortly. He indicated it's a good feeling to have one or two candidates in the wings waiting for a position, which is something we haven't seen in quite some time. Chief Canfield invited the Commission to the Annual Christmas Luncheon for retirees on December 20th at noon at the Laconia Police Department and indicated the City's Annual Christmas Luncheon is scheduled for December 13th from noon to 1:30 pm at the Laconia Community Center, which the Commissioners are also invited to attend. 3/5  Chief Canfield advised tonight is the Citizen Police Academy graduation, which is a great program and required a lot of work on Eric Adams' part. Chief Canfield advised he had a meeting yesterday in Concord with Homeland Security, some of whom came from Washington D.C., and members of Senator Hassan's office, to talk about Law Enforcement in New Hampshire; resources; what Law Enforcement resources are needed; School Emergency Preparedness, and intelligence gathering in general. He advised there was a lot accomplished and there will be further follow up to come. Chief Canfield advised he would like to recognize Phillip Gamblin Sr., who passed away last Sunday, November 17th. He advised Mr. Gamblin was 89 years old, had lived here locally and had served time as a Police Officer here in Laconia. He advised calling hours will be held on Friday at Wilkinson-Beane from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Commissioner Tarr noted there is almost a 50% drop in overdose calls compared to last year and inquired if we have seen a corresponding reduction in the number of people attending the myriad of treatment facilities in the area. Chief Canfield advised the specific numbers are unknown, but his sense is that it is pretty steady. He advised Eric Adams is always inundated and remains very busy every day with working with these people and you have to be wanting the help in order to receive it. He advised he thinks those numbers remain steady, despite the overdoses that are declining. He advised he may be able to get a better sense, through Eric Adams, of the doorway at the hospital and see what their numbers are. He indicated he is aware that they have seen over 100 people as of this point. He indicated encouraging news is that at least the heroin overdoses are declining and this isn't a trend just in Laconia, but State wide, New England wide and East Coast wide. He advised it ebbs and flows and we do see a lot of heroin replaced with Fentanyl and now it's switching a lot more to meth. He advised it's just a different product that we're seeing. Chairman Whittum advised the Commission recognizes the hard work by both Captains and they have the Commission's appreciation. 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 18, 2019 was confirmed. 14. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 15. CITIZEN COMMENTS Councilor Bruce Cheney, Councilor for Ward 1 and Liaison to the Police Department, approached and advised he comes with a few requests for information. He advised he would like to get information on pedestrian accidents over a year's period of time, or perhaps more than that, indicating the purpose of this request is, as it relates to crosswalks. He indicated there is discussion in the Council about putting in bump outs and he has some reservations about those. He advised his recollection of people being run down in crosswalks is sketchy at best and he suspects there hasn't been a large amount. He advised it would help if he had these numbers. Councilor Cheney advised he is also requesting to get three, or preferably six months, of actual patrol schedules, and in particular, he is looking for those scheduled shifts that weren't covered and or when we have been running light. He advised those are the ones he wishes to look at. He indicated he has had several discussions with Chief Canfield in which he has expressed his feelings about staffing and he 4/5  would like to see what he can do about that. He advised that in conjunction with that, he is asking to be provided with a list of months where we were at full staff for last two years. Councilor Cheney advised he is asking in the spirit of trying to help staffing issues. He indicated he is thrilled to hear we will be at full staff shortly and the City needs a full staff and maybe a somewhat larger staff. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3, II) RSA 91-A:3II(c) - Matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of this board, unless such person requests an open meeting. This exemption shall extend to include any application for assistance or tax abatement, or waiver of a fee, fine or other levy, if based on inability to pay or poverty of the applicant. On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, in accordance with RSA 91-A:3 II, the Laconia Police Commission entered into Non-Public Session at 3:23 p.m. Roll Call Vote to enter Non-Public Session: Chairman Douglas Whittum Yes Commissioner Thomas Tarr Yes Commissioner Frank Mello Yes At 3:56 p.m., the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, with a unanimous vote. Public Session reconvened at 3:56 p.m. Chairman Whittum entertained a Motion to seal the Minutes, moved by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, because it is determined that divulgences of this information like would affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of this board. Roll Call vote to seal the minutes: Chairman Douglas Whittum Yes Commissioner Thomas Tarr Yes Commissioner Frank Mello Yes 16.A. Employee Request for Expungement of Letters of Reprimand 16.B. Pending Litigation 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Tarr, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:57 pm. 5/5