Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 16, 2020 3:00 P.M. 12/16/2020 - 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 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 No discussion. 5.B. Resignations/Retirement 5.B.i. Resignation - Patrol Officer Daniel Boudreau Chief Canfield advised Officer Dan Boudreau has submitted his resignation and is going to the Windham Police Department. He advised Officer Boudreau's wife currently works for Raytheon and commutes back and forth to Massachusetts. Officer Boudreau's commute is about an hour long. He advised they are looking to settle down and have a family and Officer Boudreau thought it would be more advantageous to live closer to home. Chief Canfield advised he met with Officer Boudreau personally and he had nothing bad to say and has been very happy with the department and he is sad to leave, but he made the very tough choice. He advised Officer Boudreau has been with us for a couple of years, he will be missed, and we wish him the best. 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised he worked with Captain Graton on preparing the 2021-2022 budget submittal that was due last week and the current budget is on track and within guidelines. He advised we are in the process of getting the new cars equipped and on-line and they should be out shortly. He also advised that training has been, as has everything, affected by COVID. He advised they are struggling to maintain the bare bones minimum for training, but Lieutenant Hubbard has been very successful in arranging that so things are separated and there are smaller classes. He advised they just finished doing CPR/First Aid training, as well as Taser Recertification. He advised they were done in small blocks, but we still got it done. 6.A.i. Orders & Bulletins  6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield advised Captain Finogle has been working on recruitment, which again has been affected by COVID and it has been difficult to conduct written tests and the necessary interviews. He said we do have a number of candidates in line. He indicated there is a testing process that will be conducted on January 9th, which will also include the physical fitness test and oral boards. He advised they are working on getting the new scheduling software up and running, as well as the new program called Pro-QA that he spoke of at the last Commission meeting. He advised this is a big undertaking and the target date is May to get that operational. He explained that essentially it is the same software as 911, so when a call is received it is standardized and it gets more information out to the officers in a quicker fashion. Chief Canfield advised Lieutenant Noyes is working on another program along with Pro-QA called Rapid SOS, which is a free program. He indicated that once this is implemented, if someone calls 911, it will automatically ping their location and start sending those signals out to all of the mobile data terminals in the cruisers. This will give an approximate 30-40 second heads up on the call before it actually happens, which will hopefully improve response times. Commissioner Davis inquired if we can pinpoint where a caller is when they call in. Chief Canfield advised we cannot do that as of now, but this new program would allow that to happen with cell phones. He indicated if we had a major incident, it would actually pull up a Google map and drop different pins on it and show multiple callers at one location. This way we could allocate resources or the nearest cars to start heading that way. Commissioner Davis questioned if someone called in and didn't know their location, this program would tell us and Chief Canfield advised that is correct. 6.B.i. Hirings Chairman Whittum inquired if we have a backup list of potential candidates. Chief Canfield advised that we do have a backup list and can either bring those applications forward and allow them to go through the oral board at that time or encourage them to attend a new testing process. Chairman Whittum inquired if that is the procedure we will use to fill the vacancy opening up by the recent resignation and Chief Canfield advised yes and that we currently have one position open and the officer who resigned will open up a second vacancy to be filled. 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 November 18, 2020 were accepted as distributed with no further discussion. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Activity Highlights report. He indicated that motor vehicle stops were up in large part due to the traffic unit created. Commissioner Mello advised he has noticed traffic stops on North Main Street must be working, as traffic seems to be going the speed limit. Chairman Whittum advised he was up by the jail one day and noticed there was a cruiser parked coming out of Old North Main and another down on Edgewater Drive. Chairman Whittum inquired what would be attributing to the 25% increase in the number of calls for service. Chief Canfield advised it's really hard to tell. He noted this year has been a strange year with COVID. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics report. Commissioner Mello noted there was another robbery at the Spa and inquired if it occurred during the day or at night. Chief Canfield advised the robbery occurred at 3:00 in the afternoon and the other one was classified as a theft and occurred at about 9:30 at night. He indicated a woman entered the store, distracted the clerk by asking him to open one of the display cases, so he came out from around the counter to open up the display case. He advised she then went behind the counter and there was a bag of money behind the counter, which she grabbed and ran out of the store. He indicated the clerk discovered it about ten minutes later, as he was curious as to why she went back there, and he saw on the video that she had taken the bag of money and fled. 8.C. Budget Reports  Chief Canfield advised everything is on track. No further discussion. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Statistics report. No further discussion. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT 9.A. CORRESPONDENCE TO AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised we received a nice thank you from the New Hampton Police Department. He indicated they had reached out with questions regarding our records management system and Robin Moyer volunteered to go over and assist them with learning the program. He advised all of our employees are willing to help other agencies and it is to be commended. He also advised there was a nice thank you letter from someone who enjoyed the Christmas parade and appreciated the assistant with making it happen. He indicated there was also a thank you from the St. Vincent de Paul Society in appreciation for our assistance in handing out the food baskets. He advised St. Vincent de Paul is located on Union Avenue by McDonald's and there was a ton of traffic, so we ended up setting up cones to block off part of Union Avenue to assist with the traffic. Commissioner Mello indicated he spoke with them and they were very pleased. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield reviewed the Drug Overdose Statistics report. No further discussion. He advised he was re-appointed to the IACP Terrorism Committee, which works on terrorism issues not only in our country, but world wide, and it was an honor to be re-appointed. He indicated a survey came in on-line from a subject who was not overly pleased with the level of police service received and he reached out and spoke with him. He stated it appears there was a misunderstanding and the officer is attempting to contact him. the survey and no issues at end of conversation. He indicated he had a good conversation with the subject and he had no issues at the end of the conversation. He advised Eric Adams has been working on the Mayor's Homeless Task Force and they have some pretty good ideas and hope to roll them out when the details are finalized. He indicated this is a tough time of year for the homeless population with it getting cold and there being no shelter and nowhere for them to go, so they are working on some options and Officer Adams has been leading the charge for the Police Department on that task force and has been doing a really good job. He stated he looks forward to them revealing some of the ideas that he and the Task Force will be coming out with. He advised that changes have been put in place due to COVID and they keep getting tweaked as our people are affected either by quarantine or actually contracting COVID. He advised this is constantly being monitored and he participates in conference calls with the State. He advised he is pleased that Harry Plummer, who was the Assistant Commissioner of Safety, has come back as a consultant for Public Health and will be leading the vaccination charge for the State. He advised he was on a call with them today and they are looking to get vaccinations rolled out to the hospitals this Friday and then looking to vaccinate first responders sometime at the end of the month. He advised there are still some questions regarding receiving the vaccine, but still being a carrier of the virus. He said there are questions about being exposed to someone with COVID and if you still need to quarantine and, as of right now, the thought is that you still have to quarantine, because you can still potentially be a carrier, but if you have received the vaccine you are not going to get sick. He indicated he has also been working with the National Guard and State resources for when the vaccine does arrive for public distribution. He advised the Community College on Route 106 will be a point of distribution for approximately 6-7 months. He advised it is certainly nice of the college to open up their building and parking lot to allow this to happen. Commissioner Davis inquired when this will open up and Chief Canfield advised he is not sure, as it is based on the supply of vaccine. He indicated that plans are being put in place for when enough quantity of the vaccine is received, they can open it up for distribution. He indicated it is a two dose vaccine and requires some monitoring.  He stated they have signed an MOU and are looking to have it operational as soon as the vaccine is available. Commissioner Davis advised he heard on the news today that there may be at least one more vaccine coming out on the market and Chief Canfield agreed that will certainly help. Chief Canfield advised it is his understanding that it needs to be refrigerated, so transportation and storage will need to be addressed, but he believes it will happen sometime in the March or April time frame to begin the vaccinations. Chairman Whittum inquired if our employees that had been quarantined are back to work and Chief Canfield advised they are. 11. OLD BUSINESS 12. NEW BUSINESS 13. OTHER BUSINESS 14. CITIZEN COMMENTS Chief Canfield advised Councilor Cheney could not be here today, but wanted him to advise that he is available for any questions should the Commission have any and he also wished the Commission a very Happy Holiday season. 15. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular or Special Meeting date of January 20, 2021 was confirmed. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3,II) 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:25 pm.