Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING OCTOBER 27, 2022 Meeting took place at 3:00 p.m. in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber, Laconia City Hall, 45 Beacon Street East, Laconia, New Hampshire 10/27/2022 - 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, Commission 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. SWEARING IN NEW OFFICER - Autumn Hendricks Chief Canfield invited Lieutenant Noyes to introduce our newest officer. Lieutenant Noyes introduced Autumn Hendricks as a new officer with the department. Autumn was born and raised in the Laconia/Gilford area and attended Laconia Christian School, where she was in the top four in her class. That Fall she attended attended Southern New Hampshire University - Manchester, where she completed three separate internships, one of which was with the Laconia Police Department. In the Spring of 2022, Autumn graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Justice Studies, with a concentration in Crime and Criminology. Immediately following that, she was hired as a Community Resource Officer with our department before applying for one of our full time vacancies. City Clerk Katie Gargano conducted the swearing in of Officer Hendricks. 5.B. Commendations & Awards  Crime and Criminology. Immediately following that, she was hired as a Community Resource Officer with our department before applying for one of our full time vacancies. City Clerk Katie Gargano conducted the swearing in of Officer Hendricks. 5.B. Commendations & Awards Chief Canfield advised the Annual Awards Ceremony will be held Thursday night, November 3rd, at the Opera House., indicating we will be looking to recognize a number of officers for their amazing police work over the past year. 5.C. Resignations/Retirement - Resignation of Patrol Officer Evan Shaheen Chief Canfield advised Patrol Officer Evan Shaheen submitted his resignation, leaving police work for a better schedule and going into sales; however, will be staying on as a Part Time Officer. Chairman Whittum inquired if he was disenchanted with police work and Chief Canfield responded that he is looking to have a family later on and the schedule of a police officer, with the thought of working nights, weekends and holidays is not something he wanted to do with children. Also, he was afforded the opportunity in sales where he said he could make more money. Chief Canfield advised he enjoyed police work and that is why he wished to stay on part time. During an exit interview with him, he had no complaints. Commissioner Davis inquired what staying on part time involves. Chief Canfield advised he will need to attend mandatory training, to include firearms training and use of force training, and then the requirement will be that he will work consistent hours throughout the year to stay up to date and be available for bigger events, whether it be Motorcycle Week or some of the other bigger events to help out. 5.D. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised they have been very busy working on a number of different grants, as well as keeping up with our current grants. Detectives are also busy working on the shooting investigation that occurred on Avery Street. He noted there was great cooperation between patrol officers and detectives working on the case, from the initial response right through the actual crime scene processing. That investigation remains a priority for them. 6.A.i. Orders and Bulletins 6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield advised they are in the process of finishing up fall firearms training and are planning for Pumpkinfest, which takes place this weekend, as well as the Wicked Weirs event. They also assisted UNH with homecoming events a couple of weeks ago. 6.B.i. Hirings 7. COMMISSION ACTION 7.A. Acceptance of minutes from previous meeting  6.B.i. Hirings 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 September 14, 2022 were accepted as distributed. 7.B. Out-of-State School(s) Chief Canfield reviewed the Gracie Survival Tactics (GST) school requested by Officers Tyler Babineau and Tyler Rouse. He indicated both are certified instructors in the Gracie Survival Tactics, which is a part of our defensive tactics program. He advised the defensive tactics program has changed from what it used to be and this gains a lot better control and restraint of violent persons while reducing injuries and liability to both them and the officer. We transitioned to this program several years ago and this class is a Level 2 Certification, which will bring the Gracie Survival Tactics to the next level. They will travel to East Vincent Township, Pennsylvania, from April 17-April 21, 2023. They would travel by department vehicle and the cost of tuition, to include meals and room, would be approximately $3,330.00 combined for both to attend. On a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, the above school was approved. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Activity Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Department Monthly Activity Highlights report. After the last Commission Meeting last month, he convened a group to determine how we track our statistics and the reasons behind them. This group examined how it was done and it was determined there were some things not being reported or being reported differently, such as a park, walk and talk, versus a community policing walk. We streamlined this and added some categories, to include the park, walk and talk. Beginning next month, we will also be tracking training hours, which directly correlates to statistics for traffic stops and directed patrols. He is hoping this change we allow us to accurately reflect activity for the officers and why it might shift or fluctuate due to other priorities for that month. He indicated it may take a while to establish a baseline with some of the new categories. Chairman Whittum asked how it is tracked if someone stops an officer and asks for directions and if that counts as contact with the public. Chief Canfield advised contact such as that is not tracked and it is only tracked if someone calls into dispatch or if an officer initiates something. Contact such as giving directions is part of their normal duties. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Statistics. He noted the number of training hours is most likely due to Detective Horan being one of the firearms instructors and he was assisting with Fall firearms training. 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised the budget is on track. No further discussion. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Report  8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised the budget is on track. No further discussion. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Report. He noted motor vehicle stops are up at 687 stops for the month of September as compared to 548 for August. Commissioner Davis inquired when bicycle patrols stop and Chief Canfield advised we run them until it's too cold in mid-November or so. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report Commissioner Mello inquired about the new motorcycle and Chief Canfield advised we took delivery of it and it is being outfitted at this time and should be ready to go come Spring. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised we received a thank you from Former Vice President Mike Pence reference a law enforcement round table that he sat on with him; one from a woman reaching out to thank Officer DeNutte for a call for service; and one thanking us for assisting with a birthday party for "Tiny" Craig, who had been in Boston Children's Hospital for long term treatment and he was turning four years old. We joined up with the Laconia Fire Department and did a birthday party drive-by for him. We also received a thank you from Chief Temperino of the Plymouth University Police Department for our assistance with one of their busy weekends. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield advised the following: This coming Monday morning, he, Roy Cuddahy and Allan Beetle will be riding the WOW Trail. Roy has an electric bike business and will be loaning some of his bikes to navigate the WOW Trail, where he wants to point out some of the hot spots that could use some improvement or are of particular concern to policing. Dr. Spead reached out last week and wanted to express his appreciation for everything the police department does and he dropped off nice lunch yesterday for the employees. We participated in a drive-by show of appreciation at the Taylor Home today, where residents showed their appreciation for what we do and provided us with lunches for the employees/ He is in the process of meeting with roll calls, in addition to conducting an anonymous internal survey on employee satisfaction. He indicated it has been several years since we have done this and he is looking to fine tune and look for opportunities to make things more efficient and better for the employees. As mentioned earlier, the Annual Awards Ceremony is next Thursday night at the Opera House. He was notified of another Federal grant that we received in the amount of $107,888.00 to fund the purchase of police camera trailers to be used during Motorcycle Week and other major events. This is 100% funded with no matching funds. We were also awarded the Bullet Proof Vest Partnership Grant, which will pay 50% of our ballistic vest replacements. We are beginning our year three review of our CALEA accreditation process, which will take place November 4th through November 12th. They will be looking in the area of approximately 80-100 of our standards.  We were also awarded the Bullet Proof Vest Partnership Grant, which will pay 50% of our ballistic vest replacements. We are beginning our year three review of our CALEA accreditation process, which will take place November 4th through November 12th. They will be looking in the area of approximately 80-100 of our standards. We have a suggestion box we review every Staff meeting and Officer Callanan had submitted a really well written suggestion for improvements we could make to help with the homelessness issue at Rotary Park specifically. She indicated that as a resident of the City, she is invested in the City and really wants to help. She made some good suggestions and Chief Canfield likes her drive and initiative and she has been assigned to take that on. She has attended some meetings at the Belknap Mill reference looking at improving the conditions and she will be working with Eric Adams to try to coordinate the efforts, as he works on the the whole City-wide homelessness issue under the Mayor's Task Force. A while ago there was a question about the "No Contributing Action" category for accidents. Essentially this means that if a driver entered an intersection with a green light and gets t-boned by another car, it would not be the driver's fault who had the green light, as they did not cause the crash. We have new crash reporting software through the State and we are still working through it. Capital Improvement requests for next year have been submitted, which includes the replacement of three police vehicles; replacement of the main computer server; our police technology requests that we have done the past several years; as well as portable radios and the erection of a storage/evidence building. The perimeter fence security project that was approved a while ago was supposed to start this past Monday, however, it will get underway this coming Monday. He attended vigil on October 2nd at Opechee Park concerning hate and the swatstikas that were found. He reviewed the Overdose Statistics and noted that year-to-date line of duty deaths across the nation are at 192 deaths. Commissioner Mello inquired if a suspect was determined reference the swatstikas and Chief Canfield advised no, stating we have had some persons of interest, but we do not have enough to bring forth charges at this point. Chairman Whittum inquired about the new evidence building. Chief Canfield advised it would basically be a storage building where the current impound lot is located. When we take larger items or vehicles in, which we cannot bring into the interior evidence room, they sit outside and essentially rust and decay. By the time they go to court a year or two later and returned to the owner, they are not in good condition. This storage building would give us the ability to store items inside where they will be better protected, as well as store all of the bicycles. We have over a hundred bicycles in our impound lot this year that have been sitting out in the weather. By the time those are sent to auction, they are not worth much due to being in poor condition. This will also allow us to protect some of our other equipment, such as our sign boards, motorcycles, the light towers, and other larger items, which we currently have no place to store. Chairman Whittum inquired if this is a project that Huot Tech students could do. Chief Canfield advised it is pretty involved, being a big building, so he doesn't think so. He indicated he has worked closely with Congressman Chris Pappas, who has funding through his office, and preliminary reports are that we are approved for $100,000.00 through his office. It has to go through a couple of smaller review committees, but we expect to receive that money. Commissioner Davis advised he could check with the Huot Tech program to see if this is anything they could help with. 11. OLD BUSINESS  couple of smaller review committees, but we expect to receive that money. Commissioner Davis advised he could check with the Huot Tech program to see if this is anything they could help with. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 14. CITIZEN COMMENTS No citizen comments. 15. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular Meeting date of November 16, 2022 was confirmed. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3,II (A)) No Non-Public Session necessary. 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:27 pm.