Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING JULY 25, 2022 Meeting took place at 4:00 p.m. in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber, Laconia City Hall, 45 Beacon Street East, Laconia, New Hampshire 7/25/2022 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Whittum called the meeting to Order at 4:05 p.m. 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. Sandro Bosnjak Resignation Chief Canfield advised Officer Sandro Bosnjak has submitted his resignation, who was in the training program and decided this career choice was not for him. 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS  5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised the following: He is pleased to announce that the mobile command post Vehicle that we have been working on for over a year has arrived. It was driven out from Arizona by the company and delivered last week. It is currently at the police department and is in the process of being outfitted. This is a first for the Laconia Police Department to have our own mobile command post that will serve not only for crime scenes, but also accident reconstruction scenes. Commissioner Davis inquired if it is a box van and Chief Canfield advised it is a F-550 chassis with a 20 foot box on the back. Commissioner Davis inquired if it's a walk through and Chief Canfield advised it is, with two dispatch stations, lots of storage for evidence collection, the drone and accident reconstruction equipment, and also a command room for running major incidents. In addition, the mobile response trailer has arrived, which was also 100% grant funded. This was an effort to provide for traffic control devices for large scenes, whether it be signage, cone package and those types of things. That is a 20 foot towable trailer. They have been working hard on researching the CIP funded vehicles that were funded in this year's budget. 6.A.i. Orders & Bulletins 6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield reported the following: They went through a selection process for the School Resource Officer for the Laconia High School to replace that position that was vacated by Officer Steven Orton, who took Eric Adams' place as the P.E.T. Coordinator. Tyler Rouse was selected as replacement School Resource Officer. Chief Canfield advised he feels he will do an outstanding job and will attend training in August and start for the school year in September. They have been busy planning for the many late summer and fall events, to include Ironman and PumpkinFest, in addition to a very busy summer. 6.B.i. Hirings Chairman Whittum recognized Chief Canfield. Chief Canfield advised it is his pleasure to introduce two candidates who underwent intensive background investigations and have started our in-house training program. Officer Richard Sullivan grew up in Concord, New Hampshire and graduated from Bishop Brady High School in 2018. From there, he attended Curry College, where he achieved a Bachelor's of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology. During his senior year, he was inducted in the Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society. He also played four years of football at Curry College and was a captain his senior year. He has been working at the Laconia Police Department since 2019 as a Community Resource Officer during his  Officer Richard Sullivan grew up in Concord, New Hampshire and graduated from Bishop Brady High School in 2018. From there, he attended Curry College, where he achieved a Bachelor's of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology. During his senior year, he was inducted in the Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society. He also played four years of football at Curry College and was a captain his senior year. He has been working at the Laconia Police Department since 2019 as a Community Resource Officer during his summer and winter breaks throughout college and he is extremely excited to start his career in law enforcement here in the City of Laconia. Officer Alicia Larsen grew up in North Attleboro, Massachusetts and attended Tri-County Vocational High School, having graduated in 2013. She then joined the Army National Guard in 2016 as a Signal Support Specialist and deployed overseas in 2021. . She is currently studying Psychology and Sociology at Bridgewater State University. Chief Canfield advised he can personally speak to both of these candidates and would like to recommend them for hire. City Clerk Katie Gargano conducted the swearing in of both officers. 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 June 15, 2022 were accepted as distributed. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Department Monthly Activity report. No further discussion. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics. He noted the majority of shifts indicated under "Patrol Shifts Covered" were for Motorcycle Week. No further discussion. 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised we look good for the beginning of the budget year. He has not received the year end report for the prior budget and will share it with the Commission when he receives it. Chairman Whittum noted that speaks to the effort the department puts in by keeping a watchful eye on the budget. Chief Canfield agreed. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Statistics. Chairman Whittum inquired if Belmont Road is Route 106 or if it's Route 3. Chief Canfield advised Belmont Road starts at the intersection of Grant Street and continues on from South Main Street by Granite State Glass. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report Chairman Whittum inquired if the new command vehicle will be outfitted at the police  advised Belmont Road starts at the intersection of Grant Street and continues on from South Main Street by Granite State Glass. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report Chairman Whittum inquired if the new command vehicle will be outfitted at the police department or will it go to Ossipee Mountain Electronics. Chief Canfield advised it will go to Ossipee Mountain Electronics. He indicated the company that built it installed a lot of the wiring that had been put in the walls, but Ossipee Mountain Electronics will install the radios, antennas, etc. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised we received a nice email compliment from someone who attended Motorcycle Week reference actions taken by Sergeant Carlson. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield reviewed the overdose statistics report and there are no reported overdose deaths as of yet. He indicated a lot of the Fentanyl and Meth we are seeing is a lot more potent, coming from the Mexican drug cartels, and we are working with DEA on that and keeping an eye on what we see in Laconia. We will be holding a summer employee BBQ to show appreciation to all employees on August 8th at noon and 5pm at the police department. He has asked all command staff to come in and help and the Commissioners are welcome to attend. National Night Out will be held on August 11th this year at Opechee Park from 5pm to 7pm. There will be a drone display, motorcycle demo, K9 demo, and the National Guard Blackhawk helicopter will land inside the track. Chairman Whittum inquired if the new vehicle will be ready for this event and Chief Canfield advised he will have it there even if it's not completely outfitted. We will be doing an in-person Citizen Police Academy this fall, which was canceled the past two years. Last year was canceled more due to lack of attendance with just coming out of Covid and not having a lot of interest. We are working on doing a table top exercise and a full scale active shooter exercise in the spring of 2023. These exercises are really big and involve all of our partners in law enforcement for the surrounding areas. This will be held at the Pleasant St. school in the spring. The sign board/speed boards that we have that were all grant funded are being utilized around the City and have helped a lot with major events, such as advertising, but also with speed control. We are making the best use of those and have them out all the time in different traffic challenged areas. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion.  No discussion. 13. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 14. CITIZEN COMMENTS No citizens in attendance. 15. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular meeting date of August 17, 2022 was confirmed. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3,II (A)) 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 the right to a meeting, (2) requests that the meeting be open, in which case the request shall be granted. On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, in accordance with RSA 91-A:3II(a), the Laconia Police Commission entered into Non-Public Session at 4:24 pm. Roll Call Vote to enter Non-Public Session: Chairman Douglas Whittum Yes Commissioner Frank Mello Yes Commissioner Scott Davis Yes At 4:38 pm, the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, with a unanimous vote. Public Session reconvened at 4:38 pm. 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 4:39 pm.