Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 21, 2023 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 6/21/2023 - 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 No discussion. 5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division  No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield reporting the following: They have been busy with the end of year budget wrap-up, as we completing grant paperwork and regular grant reporting. 6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield advised the following: The month of June encompassed the final preparations for Motorcycle Week, which consumed most of their time. They are in full swing with the summer patrol schedule and have been working on the planning and preparations for the 4th of July festivities, which will be a long weekend this year due to the 4th of July being a Tuesday. We anticipate that being a very busy weekend, especially if the weather is good. They are working on a new hybrid schedule that was introduced by some of the officers. They are looking to work out the details and implement that schedule for the Fall schedule taking effect in September. This involves a lot of work on the adjustments for that, but will be beneficial and accommodating to some of the younger and/or newer officers. We have two backgrounds investigations in process and we anticipate hiring them in July. One is in Marine Corps and tested when he was home on leave this Spring and we are looking to get him on board, as well as a female out-of-state applicant. 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 May 17, 2023 were accepted as distributed. 7.B. Out-of-State School(s) 7.B.i. FBI National Academy Annual Training Conference - Chief Matthew Canfield Chief Canfield advised he is requesting to attend the FBI National Academy Annual Training Conference. This conference is held each year for graduates of the FBI Academy and provides networking, as well as the latest training for police executives and a trade show. This year it is being held in Denver, Colorado from July 27th to August 2nd. On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the above conference was approved. 7.B.ii. Police Response to Active Shooter Instructor Certification - Detective Peter Horan Detective Horan is requesting to attend the Police Response to Active Shooter Instructor Certification course being held in Fishkill, NY from July 10th through July 13th. Detective Horan is one of our lead firearms instructors and a very instrumental part of our firearms program. This will give him the actual instructor certification to teach Police Response to Active  7.B.ii. Police Response to Active Shooter Instructor Certification - Detective Peter Horan Detective Horan is requesting to attend the Police Response to Active Shooter Instructor Certification course being held in Fishkill, NY from July 10th through July 13th. Detective Horan is one of our lead firearms instructors and a very instrumental part of our firearms program. This will give him the actual instructor certification to teach Police Response to Active Shooter, which is needed not only on our firearms range, but also for all of our in-service training. On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the above school was approved. 7.B.iii. Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Annual Meeting - Chief Matthew Canfield Chief Canfield advised he is requesting to attend the Police Executive Research Forum Annual Meeting in New York City July 17th. This is an organization that is on the leading forefront of policing our country. Back in March the Executive Director came up from Washington, D.C. to conduct a forum here in Laconia. As a result of that, he has invited him to be part of the panel discussion on the latest in policing in New York City at the annual conference. On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the above Annual Meeting was approved. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Activity Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Activity Highlights. Chairman Whittum inquired how these statistics compare to another City the size of Laconia. Chief Canfield advised our criminal statistics are higher than other comparable size agencies. The calls for service don't mean a lot, as there are other towns and cities that pull a call for service for everything they do, where as we only pull a call for service for actual true calls. But as far as criminal statistics, they are comparable to Portsmouth, which is a slighter bigger community than Laconia. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Monthly Activity Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigative Unit Monthly Activity report.. No further discussion 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised we are on track to finish in the positive and have excess left over. He indicated Captain Graton has been calculating the final numbers and is confident that we are going to come in under budget. Chairman Whittum recognized that we come in under budget almost every year and it speaks highly of the department. He is sure the City Council takes note of the excellent job of Chief Canfield and Staff do regarding the budget. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic report. Chairman Whittum inquired why North Main Street seems to be on every print-out we see regarding accidents and inquired if it is due to the factory traffic. Chief Canfield responded that it is a busy street and North Main Street, South Main Street and Union Avenue tend to catch the most accidents just because of them being busy, high count roads.  Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic report. Chairman Whittum inquired why North Main Street seems to be on every print-out we see regarding accidents and inquired if it is due to the factory traffic. Chief Canfield responded that it is a busy street and North Main Street, South Main Street and Union Avenue tend to catch the most accidents just because of them being busy, high count roads. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised we received the following: We received a nice donation of complementary tickets to a concert held in Meredith gifted by Temple B'Nai Israel. There is a picture of some of the department's officers with some care bags we received from an elementary school in recognition of Police Week. There was a complimentary email from NH Liquor Enforcement complementing Officer Kira Goodheart for a job well done on a case. We received another nice email from the Plymouth State University. We received two more from interns from the Huot Technical Program. We continue to work hand in hand with the Huot Technical Program, as well as our intern program, which has worked out well in the the past as far as developing police officer candidates at a later time. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield reported the following: During the month of May we participated in a bike safety rodeo at Opechee Park. We gave away 75 bicycle helmets that were obtained with a grant through Dartmouth Hitchcock. It was great to see kids receive helmets that they might not otherwise be able to have. It was a very well attended event. We have been working with a company by the name of InForce 911, which is a school safety alert system that Holy Trinity School has obtained. We are on the verge of going live with that. If it were to be activated, it would go directly to all of our staff phones and our mobile data terminals, as well as our dispatch center. So we would receive notification instantly. We conducted a second hiring process for our Assistant Prosecutor position. Myself, Attorney Sawyer and Mayor Hosmer, who is a former prosecutor, sat on the interview panel. We had two really good candidates this time and it was difficult making the choice. We will be starting the background in the near future and are looking to hire him the beginning of August. Many of our officers participated in the Special Olympics Torch Run. He would like to recognize Officer Bassett, who has been very instrumental in the Special Olympics program. He does their winter games every year, he organizes the torch run, and he volunteers his time to go down to UNH to hand out medals at their summer games. Some very positive interaction there. On the 28th of this month he has a Joint Terrorism Task Force Meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office. He also sits on the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Committee down there. They are looking to further that program and it is scheduled to be a four hour meeting. Our Facebook page has really progressed in the past several months. There has been some  On the 28th of this month he has a Joint Terrorism Task Force Meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office. He also sits on the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Committee down there. They are looking to further that program and it is scheduled to be a four hour meeting. Our Facebook page has really progressed in the past several months. There has been some really good work on that and a lot of feedback from the public as far as comments and likes. This continues to be a really good public relations tool. We saw large crowds for the 100th Anniversary of Motorcycle Week from the first weekend and right through the week; however, are statistics were overall very good. We had a total of 57 arrests, 47 motor vehicle crashes, 415 motor vehicle stops, and 2 DWI arrests. He is very happy to report there were no fatal accidents and no serious incidents throughout the week. There have been 18 total overdoses year-to-date and 51 law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty across the country year-to-date. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS No discussion. 13. OTHER BUSINESS No discussion. 14. CITIZEN COMMENTS Councilor Cheney stated he compliments the Chief and the men and women of the department for their outstanding work during Motorcycle Week. He advised the City Council does take in account that the Chief is cautious with his spending and he compliments him for that. This is not easy to do and it helps that he has a remarkable ability to keep the manning levels fairly high. He indicated Chief Canfield told him we have two openings. His response was "you're kidding". The reason he said that was because most of the departments in the State have a 20-40% opening rate and we only have 1-2 openings. This a compliments to Chief Canfield, the Commission and hopefully to the City Council and City of Laconia. He advised there are a couple of areas where we are seeing significant drops in motor vehicle stops and perhaps, at least from the comments he has received from one or two councilors, it is due to parking. There are issues of parking downtown, but what he is hearing about are side streets and back streets, particularly in the south end, where they are left wheel to curb or parking on the sidewalk. He is just passing on that this was an expressed concern and he hopes that it gets attention. In conclusion, he would like to again complement Chief Canfield on the outstanding job he and the department are doing. 15. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular meeting date of July 19, 2023 was confirmed. 16. ADJOURNMENT 15. CONFIRMATION OF NEXT MEETING DATE The next Regular meeting date of July 19, 2023 was confirmed. 16. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:23 pm.