Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 6, 2024 Meeting took place at 2:00 p.m. in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber, Laconia City Hall, 45 Beacon Street East, Laconia, New Hampshire 3/6/2024 - 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  5.C. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised the following: They have been doing regularly quarterly grant reporting. Recently we were awarded a Homeland Security grant in the amount of $15,000.00 , which was appropriated for the purpose of tactical vests for the Regional SWAT Team. This was recently accepted by City Council We are currently in the process of applying for a grant for a storage facility. We asked for this through CIP and also applied for several other grants in the past. This facility will house a lot of our expensive equipment that is currently being housed outside., such as the camera trailers, sign boards and other equipment that is sitting out in the elements. We are applying for a grant from the Federal Government through Congresswoman Kuster's office, as well as Congressman Pappas' office. As of yesterday we were awarded a grant from Congresssman Pappas' office in the amount of $77,000.00. This will fund equipment such as a laser scanner, as well as some other 3-d mapping software for the Regional Accident Investigation Team that we head up. We will be transitioning to the new taser version and undergoing instructor training by AXON this month and then the department will be trained on the conversion. Our Spring firearms training as been scheduled for May. Commissioner Davis inquired if the $14,000.00 for the tactical vests is our share or if that is total for all towns. Chief Canfield advised we tend to take up some of the grant writing responsibilities, as we have the resources to do it, and this is a non-matching grant and goes as a regional asset. Chairman Whittum inquired what the difference is between the old and new tasers and Chief Canfield advised the new tasers have the ability to fire multiple projectiles versus the old ones only fire 1-2 cartridges. Technology changes every few years, our body cameras change out every two and half years, so with the new contract with Taser, they are replacing our current tasers. 6.A.i. Orders and Bulletins 6.B. Chief - Operations Division Chief Canfield advised the following: The summer schedule has been bid and posted and the Motorcycle Week schedule is in the process of being bid out. We recently went through a very traumatic event call regarding a suicidal subject. A number of officers were involved and did a phenomenal job and he is very proud of how they handled the incident from start to finish. We received some accolades from the hospital where the subject was treated and they were very happy with the way it went. The officers were also offered to participate in an after-action debrief with a critical incident stress debrief team in conjunction with the fire department and and the hospital.  We recently went through a very traumatic event call regarding a suicidal subject. A number of officers were involved and did a phenomenal job and he is very proud of how they handled the incident from start to finish. We received some accolades from the hospital where the subject was treated and they were very happy with the way it went. The officers were also offered to participate in an after-action debrief with a critical incident stress debrief team in conjunction with the fire department and and the hospital. A number of our officers will be participating in the Winni Dip being held at the Margate this Saturday at 10:00 am. 6.B.i. Hirings Chairman Whittum inquired about hirings. Chief Canfield advised Jon Howe will be returning next week, having retired last month. He will be returning in a part time capacity and will assist with the Detective Unit covering some of the shortages there and then, at the end of the month will be taking over the responsibility of our Evidence Technician, as Dennis Ashley, who has been the Evidence Technician for the past seven years will be retiring for good. This will be a nice transition. In addition to that, under CALEA accreditation, there has to be a full audit of the evidence room, so that will be taking place during that period. Jon will be brought up to speed on some of the duties as a Lead Evidence Technician before Dennis leaves. 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 15, 2023 were accepted as distributed. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Activity Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Activity Highlights. No further discussion. 8.B. Criminal Investigative Unit Monthly Activity Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Criminal Investigations Unit Monthly Activity Report. Commissioner Mello noted that the sex offender registrations tend to go up and down. Chief Canfield advised this can be due to the subjects moving in or out of Laconia. Commissioner Mello inquired if they register elsewhere and Chief Canfield advised they either go to other communities or some come to our community. 8.C. Budget Reports Chief Canfield advised the budget is looking on track and we are under budget. We are 63.46% through the budget year and we are currently at 58.78% spent. This doesn't include some of the outside contracted services that still need to be paid. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Report. No further discussion. Chairman Whittum noted that Union Avenue seems to appear every month and Chief Canfield advised Union Avenue and Court Street are two of the big thoroughways through Laconia and have some of the highest traffic. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report  Chairman Whittum noted that Union Avenue seems to appear every month and Chief Canfield advised Union Avenue and Court Street are two of the big thoroughways through Laconia and have some of the highest traffic. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised the following: We received several nice thank you letters. One was for helping a family who was displaced for a number of months by a fire and thanking the officers who helped them. We received a nice thank you from Leadership Lakes Region. We participate in this program every year, helping with their leadership program by allowing them to do ridealongs. We conducted approximately thirty ridealongs to assist them in learining about the City and about our community. There were several other nice thank you letters. He received a very nice email from a parent of a high school student congratulating Tyler Rouse on his outstanding performance as the School Resource Officer, as well as his participation in the after school football program as a coach. Tyler is very committed in the work that he does and it was nice that a parent took the time to explain their appreciation for him. Chairman Whittum noted the letter from Don Morrissey of Leadership Lakes Region was pretty insightful, speaking highly of the department and the quality of the officers. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield advised the following: We completed the test phase of the First Arriving technology that is throughout the building on video screens for current messaging and situational awareness and it is up and running. This program replaced the previous program that was antiquated and is much more up to date. He looks forward to getting that fully implemented. We continue to work on the full implementation of the Imprivata multi-factor authentication security software. Once implemented, this software will be phenomenal as far as providing for computer security and streamlining the process so the officers do not have to have different passwords to access different programs and will make it single sign on. We've had some difficulty working with our computer system and getting it implemented, but the company just came out with a patch and we are hopeful it will be successful and completely implemented by June. As part of the IACP Terrorism Committee, he has been assigned to a working group which has completed a "white paper" entitled "The Extremist Use of Online Gaming Platforms". This sub- group works on a number of different topics, but this one was of importance and it is a complete document which will hopefully be posted on the IACP website. We conducted an active shooter assessment at the New Hampshire Unemployment Office for their staff. This was prompted by the shooting that happened at New Hampshire Hospital and was followed up with another presentation by Detective Sergeant Ben Black. Hopefully we have them in a better place security wise. We conducted an active shooter assessment at the New Hampshire Unemployment Office for their staff. This was prompted by the shooting that happened at New Hampshire Hospital and was followed up with another presentation by Detective Sergeant Ben Black. Hopefully we have them in a better place security wise. He attended the public forum on hate and anti-semitism conducted by the Laconia Human Relations Committee, which was a very well attended event. He participated in the City's goal setting session with member of the City Council. The goal setting was conducted by Primex to develop all kinds of goals throughout the City. Certainly all department heads had input into that. One thing to point out was goal #1: Offer support to State School property development. Educate developers on tax incentives to encourage low income and workforce housing. Implement community policing and homelessness outreach officer. This leads into a longer term goal that will be talked about in the future, but certainly paves the way for creating an officer to deal specifically with the homeless population, as well as all of our community partners in working to making that process a little better and some of the issues caused by it. That became one of the documented goals set by the City Council. A number of years ago he was appointed the Governor's Task Force on New Hampshire School Safety. They are reinvigorating that task force and are looking to have regular meetings to make further recommendations on school safety. This is certainly something that can be brought back to our schools here in Laconia and we can benefit from it as a City. The COSSAP grant that funds Detective Eric Adams' position has been extended through September of 2025, which is great news and will keep that program alive for another eighteen months. We received a nice donation from the Grace C. Smith Trust. Mrs. Smith lived on Gilford Avenue and, unbeknownst to us until the executor of her estate came forward, she left us $150,000.00 from her estate to use by the Laconia Police Department. In her will she specifically designated this money to help and benefit children and families, so it is very strict as far as what the money can be used for. It was a very nice donation by a community member who thought highly enough of the police department to do that. She also left the same amount of money to the fire department to help offset the cost of people who have insurance, but can't pay the copay for ambulance rides. This has undergone the first reading by City Council and Monday night will be the second reading for formal acceptance of those funds. He has been working very closely with the City Manager on our budget, as well working with the finance committee regarding the pay inequity between the Laconia Police officers and a lot of neighboring agencies and other agencies in the State. The City Council is working very diligently on that. SPIDR Tech results for the month of January 2024, which is the messaging software for when someone calls the police department, a text message is sent if there is a delay in response time and will also send a text message for the satisfaction survey at the end of it. A total of 1300 messages were sent. This is down by 9.2% from the month before. This is not concerning, as it is still higher than the average and is dependent on call volume. The completion rate for the surveys was at 24.5%, which is up 1.1%, which is a pretty significant number. We are very pleased with that. In speaking with the SPIDR Tech company, that is much higher than many of the agencies they service and it's nice to have that feedback. The 2024 overdoses statistics are at five overdoses year to date. Line of duty deaths are at eighteen across the nation. Commissioner Davis inquired if the police department responds to overdoses as well as the fire department. Chief Canfield advised we do for the most part. Commissioner Davis inquired if more individuals are found with Narcan in their possession and Chief Canfield advised absolutely. He indicated Narcan is found in pharmacies and given away and part of the reason  Line of duty deaths are at eighteen across the nation. Commissioner Davis inquired if the police department responds to overdoses as well as the fire department. Chief Canfield advised we do for the most part. Commissioner Davis inquired if more individuals are found with Narcan in their possession and Chief Canfield advised absolutely. He indicated Narcan is found in pharmacies and given away and part of the reason we are seeing a drop in overdoses over the past couple of years is due to the availability. He knows for a fact there have been a number of instances where friends of the victim will administer Narcan to them and revive them and won't call emergency services, so we don't even know about it. The other part is that we see a lot more methamphetamine use, which there are no overdose effects from as there is with heroin. Certainly illegal drugs are not gone, but it's a changing trend more towards methamphetamine. 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 March 27, 2024 at 2:00 pm was confirmed. 16. NON-PUBLIC SESSION (According To RSA 91-A:3, II (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 a right to a public meeting, and (2) requests that the meeting be open, in which case the request shall be granted. On a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, and passed unanimously, in accordance with RSA 91-A:3, II (A), the Laconia Police Commission entered into Non-Public Session at 2:24 pm. Roll Call Vote to enter Non-Public Session: Chairman Douglas Whittum - Yes Commissioner Frank Mello - Yes Commissioner Scott Davis - Yes At 3:10 pm, the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, with a unanimous vote.  Commissioner Frank Mello - Yes Commissioner Scott Davis - Yes At 3:10 pm, the Non-Public Session ended on a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, with a unanimous vote. Public Session reconvened at 3:10 pm. Chairman Whittum entertained a Motion to seal the Minutes, moved by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, because it was determined that divulgences of this information likely would render a proposed action ineffective. Roll Call Vote to seal the Minutes: Chairman Douglas Whittum - Yes Commissioner Frank Mello - Yes Commissioner Scott Davis - Yes 17. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the meeting was adjourned at 3:11 pm.