Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 3:00 P.M. 9/16/2020 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Whittum called the meeting to Order on the above date at 3:08 p.m. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Commissioner Mello 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 Frank Mello and Commissioner Scott Davis. 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 N/A 5.B. Resignations/Retirement N/A 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change N/A 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised Captain Graton has been working on our Capital Improvement submissions for next year, which will be due on Thursday. He also advised the new cars that were funded with this year's budget should be in sometime at the end of October and then sent to the outfitter for installation of equipment. 6.A.i. Orders & Bulletins Chief Canfield indicated there is a General Order in the packet for collateral duties for Sergeant Robert Sedgley, Detective Howe, and Detective Neri, as well as Officers Sean McCormack, Beau Perras and Jonathan Milne. He advised they have undergone training for the drone (UAV) and they are the team who will be certified to run the drone, which will be headed by Sergeant Sedgley. Chairman Whittum inquired if they are certified through the FAA. Chief Canfield advised the certification for the operators come through the company, as far as how to run the equipment, but it also includes a component that they have to receive their FAA certification as actual drone pilots. He advised he has been told this is a pretty difficult task. 6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield advised the Detective Division has been very busy and have put together some fairly large operations. He indicated they have had some large drug seizures and continue to work very hard on many of  those cases. He advised they also are continuing their investigation into the arson fire on Dyer Street. 6.B.i. Hirings Chief Canfield advised Captain Finogle has been working on putting together a recruitment plan. He indicated we usually participate in the McIntosh College/Great Bay testing in Portsmouth, but due to Covid they are not holding a fall test. He indicated Captain Finogle is putting together our own testing process for October in the hopes of filling out last vacancy. Commissioner Davis inquired if we have just one vacancy and Chief Canfield advised that is correct. 7. COMMISSION ACTION 7.A. Acceptance of minutes from previous meeting On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting minutes of August 19 2020 were accepted as distributed. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Department Monthly Highlights report. Commission Mello inquired how many of the intoxications are known to be from Motorcycle Week. Chief Canfield advised he doesn't believe any of that number were from Motorcycle Week. He indicated that week was very quiet for us and for at least the last weekend there were no arrests associated with the event. Commission Davis inquired why the calls for service are up so much. Chief Canfield advised he is not certain, but it has been a very funny and different summer. He indicated he does not know if this is due to people being inside a lot with the pandemic, but people seem to be pretty tense and it has been busier than usual. He advised he's not sure if the increase could also be due to people coming to their second home from out-of-State a lot more than they were and have been staying longer. He believes people were arriving earlier in the summer due to children not being in school and even now some of the Massachusetts schools are not back to school full time, so they are still up here. Commissioner Davis inquired if we were at full staff at this time last year and Chief Canfield advised we were similar to where we are now. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics report. He noted that the 85 training hours was mostly due to instructor time and included in the recovered property was a Volkawagen Passat pursuant to a drug investigation that we will be moving to seek forfeiture on. Commissioner Mello inquired if we will be keeping that car and Chief Canfield advised we have submitted for forfeiture to keep it. 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised it is very early in the budget year and everything is looking good. Commissioner Davis noted some of the line items that appear to have a higher percentage used and inquired if they will carry us through for the balance of the year. Chief Canfield advised they may be higher due to billing on a quarterly basis, so it jumps up, but then there's not another payment due for a while. Overall he indicated it looks very good. Commissioner Davis inquired if we anticipate any problems and Chief Canfield responded no. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Statistics report. No further discussion 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report Chief Canfield indicated the new cars should be arriving at the end of October and will hopefully be on-line at some point in November.  Chairman Whittum inquired about the turnaround time and Chief Canfield advised it could be anywhere from a couple of weeks up to two months. He indicated it depends on the timing of work for other agencies; however, the equipment for these cars has been ordered and will arrive around the same time as vehicles, so that should speed things up a bit. 9. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield advised we will be getting new scheduling software to implement and get up and running this fall. He indicated right now we use Microsoft Excel for the patrol officer schedules. He indicated this new software is a lot more modern and is an actual scheduling software where they can check it on their phones, they can submit leave requests through it and eventually it will integrate with our payroll system so we won't be doing paper time card any longer, which is the second phase. He indicated we have had significant presence this year on our mountain bikes, as well as officers on foot. He indicated we have hit the downtown area, the WOW trail and beaches very heavily on foot patrol in uniforms, as well as the bicycle patrol. He stated we have two additional officers who are at bicycle patrol school this week in Concord and we anticipate running the bicycles as long as we can through the fall and probably into November. Chief Canfield reviewed the Drug Overdose Statistics report. He handed out copies of the Accreditation Report to the Commissioners and advised this is the on-site report from the team who came out and did our National Accreditation Assessment in July. He advised the report is very positive and very reflective that we will be re-accredited in November. He indicated this report will be submitted to the actual Commission on Accreditation and this will be reviewed in November, at which point typically we would appear before the Commission, but due to Covid they will be doing it through a Zoom sessions and hopefully we will be re-issued our accreditation at that point. Chief Canfield advised this past Monday night we requested the funding of several Capital Improvement items that we had originally requested in our budget this year. He advised they were not funded at that time due to the uncertainty with Covid. He thanked Councilor Cheney for his support with this matter and indicated he has been working with Councilor Cheney and the City Manager to request the funding. Originally requested was funding for a electronic variable message board; however, we were able to find a grant to secure the funding for this item, which will be presented to the Commission in the near future. He indicated this request was specifically to fund the replacement of the air conditioner unit for our dispatch center, which is as old as the building and is on it's last leg, as well as several more portable police cameras that can be used for large events and a dispatch software called Priority Dispatch. He indicated this is a software that not only expedites, but makes the dispatcher's job more efficient and streamlines the way they take a call and push the information out to the officers on the mobile data terminals. He advised this also included funding for the replacement of of Forced Options simulator upstairs, where we train officers in the appropriate use of force. He indicated our current simulator is 12+ years old and the company came out to fix it and, like all technology, it's just getting antiquated and doesn't function any longer. He advised that with the support of Councilor Cheney, this got approved Monday night at the City Council meeting, so that funding is available and we will be looking to replace those items over the next couple of weeks. 10. OLD BUSINESS 11. NEW BUSINESS 12. OTHER BUSINESS 13. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular or Special Meeting date of October 21st was confirmed. Commissioner Davis advised he will not be present, but will call in. 14. CITIZEN COMMENTS 15. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3) 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 Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, in accordance with RSA 91-A:3II, the Laconia Police Commission entered into Non-Public Session at 3:26 pm. Roll Call Vote to enter Non-Public Session: Chairman Douglas Whittum - Yes Commissioner Frank Mello - Yes Commissioner Scott Davis - Yes At 4:02 pm, the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, with a unanimous vote. Public Session reconvened at 4:03 pm. Chairman Whittum inquired if there was a Motion to seal the minutes. Commissioner Mello made a Motion to seal the minutes, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, as it was determined that divulgence of this information likely 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 Frank Mello - Yes Commissioner Scott Davis - Yes 16. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 4:07 pm.