Police Commission

LACONIA POLICE COMMISSION MEETING SEPTEMBER 18, 2024 Meeting took place at 11:00 a.m. in the Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber, Laconia City Hall, 45 Beacon Street East, Laconia, New Hampshire 9/18/2024 - 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 led 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 David. 4.B. Chairman Whittum recognized Staff present - Chief Matthew Canfield. 4.C. Chairman Whittum recognized a quorum has been established with three Commissioner members present. 5. PERSONNEL MATTERS 5.A. Swearing In: Officer Ethan Hutchinson, Officer Domenic Pietrafesa, Officer Frank Heckler and Officer Parker Normand Chief Canfield invited Lieutenant Christopher Noyes to introduce our new officers: Officer Ethan Hutchinson: Ethan Hutchinson was born and raised in New Hampshire. He attended Rivier University, where he studied Criminal Justice for four years. Basketball has always been a big part of Ethan's life, playing throughout high school and on travel tams for AAU, and then continued playing for the Rivier University men's basketball team. Ethan's dad was a former Police Chief in New Hampshire, he has two older brothers, and he is excited to start his career with the Laconia Police Department. Officer Domenic Pietrafesa: Domenic Pietrafesa grew up in Burlington, Connecticut and attended Lewis Mills High School. While in school, he played football, lacrosse and was a member of the student  start his career with the Laconia Police Department. Officer Domenic Pietrafesa: Domenic Pietrafesa grew up in Burlington, Connecticut and attended Lewis Mills High School. While in school, he played football, lacrosse and was a member of the student council. After high school, Domenic worked full and part time jobs while attending college courses until his enlistment into the United State Marines. He graduated from MCRD in Parris Island, South Carolina. He served our country as a 0331 Machine Gunner in V12 Alpha Company at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he achieved the rank of Corporal and was deployed twice overseas. He is very close to his platoon even to this day and he keeps regular contact with them every year. Right before his second deployment, Domenic married his wife Biranna in July of 2020. They have two children, Lila (8) and Dillon (1). Without Brianna's support and encouragement, he would not have achieved as much as he has in this new career field. They live in Belmont and Domenic comes from a long family line of military and law enforcement officers. He looks forward to serving the City of Laconia. Officer Parker Normand: Parker was born in Northfield, New Hampshire and graduated from the Winnisquam School District. After graduation, Parker enlisted in the New Hampshire Army National Guard. Parker attended Plymouth State University, where he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice. Parker joined the Northfield Police Department in 2018. At this time, Parker was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant Military Police Officer. He joined the Tilton Police Department in 2021 and also currently serves as a Detachment Commander in the Army. Parker's parents and brother Tucker still live in the Lakes Region. Officer Frank Heckler: Frank Heckler grew up in Laconia and was active while at the Laconia High School, having over 200 hours of community service while in school. After high school, Frank attended Keene State College, where he graduated with a Bacherlor's Degree in Criminal Justice. He's excited to serve the community where he grew up. Officer Hutchinson, Officer Pietrafesa, Officer Normand and Officer Heckler were sworn in by Assistant City Clerk Stacy Anders . 5.B. Commendations & Awards No discussion. 5.C. Resignations/Retirement No discussion. 5.D. Promotions/Classification Change No discussion. 6. COMMAND STAFF REPORTS 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised the following: They have been busy with a number of open grants and doing grant maintenance and keeping up with the federal guidelines and reporting. 6.A. Chief - Support Division Chief Canfield advised the following: They have been busy with a number of open grants and doing grant maintenance and keeping up with the federal guidelines and reporting. They have been working on some new technology projects that are up and coming. They have been researching a new CAD system, which is the computer aided dispatch system that will need to be replaced in the next few years. It is a CIP item for this coming year and was a CIP item for last year, but we are looking at replacing the system in the next few years, as the system is no longer supported by the company. 6.A.i. Orders and Bulletins Chief Canfield reviewed the General Orders. 6.B. Chief - Operations Division The have been completing end of summer things, including planning for Pumpkinfest, the Wicked Weirs and another event that took place in the Weirs last weekend, so that has taken a lot of their time, as well as working on the winter shift bid, which should be coming out in the next few weeks and will start around Christmas time and continue through just before Motorcycle Week. They were part of the downtown initiative, which was a three week enforcement effort specifically in the downtown area. We received complaints about open air drug use and criminal activity happening, particularly in the downtown area. That three week initiative resulted in 16 drug related arrests. 21 custodial arrests for other crimes, 326 extra patrols, 20 loitering complaints, 53 field interviews, 63 criminal offense numbers and 547 City Ordinance violations. The whole effort resulted in the seizure of 35 grams of methamphetamine, 25.5 grams of heroin/fentanyl, and 111 grams of cocaine. A lot of that was worked between patrol and extra details for that enforcement effort. We have heard a lot of positive comments about less criminal activity in the downtown area and we look to keep that going in the future. Chairman Whittum noted it was impressive to see the pictures of those arrested in the Daily Sun. Chief Canfield commented that the majority of those were for open sales just taking in the park here, the City Hall lot and downtown. A lot of good work went into that effort. Chairman Whittum inquired how the bid process works and Chief Canfield advised that once the shift bid is posted, it goes in order of seniority, from the most senior officer to the least senior, and they get to choose which shift they want to work for that schedule session. Commissioner Davis inquired how long of a stretch it is and Chief Canfield advised it is approximately four months. He advised the winter schedule goes from Christmas to just before Motorcycle Week, summer and then fall, so there are three that are about four months each. Commissioner Davis inquired how the loitering complaints are received and if they are called in by business owners. Chief Canfield advised businesses do call in, but usually the loitering complaints are usually people sitting on the sidewalks, multiple people gathering with a lot of belongings, often times blocking the sidewalk or blocking entranceways. That's when the loitering coming into play.  Commissioner Davis inquired how the loitering complaints are received and if they are called in by business owners. Chief Canfield advised businesses do call in, but usually the loitering complaints are usually people sitting on the sidewalks, multiple people gathering with a lot of belongings, often times blocking the sidewalk or blocking entranceways. That's when the loitering coming into play. 6.B.i. Hirings Chairman Whittum inquired if we are at full staff. Chief Canfield advised we are not quite at full staff. Those recently hired bring us to a total of forty, so we still have five more open positions. He advised we were down nine positions and this brings us down to five open positions; however, we do have four additional positions on top of that which were grant positions we were granted 2-3 years ago. Our total allotment is at forty-five, but it could be forty-nine. Those four additional positions would be positions we never had before. We are looking to hire an additional four to bring us to full staff. He advised we do have two applicants in the background phase currently and if they are successful we are looking to put them on probably in January. Commissioner Davis advised it seems like we're getting qualified candidates. Chief Canfield agreed and advised all of these candidates had good backgrounds and one of them is certified with experience from Tilton. That is certainly a good thing. He advised one thing we don't compromise on is the hiring standards we have here and the pay adjustment certainly made a big difference. Commissioner Mello inquired how many out of the four recent hires have to attend the academy and Chief Canfield advised all but one. He advised hopefully they will get accepted into the January academy. If that's the case, they would get out sometime in April. They are all currently in the 6-week in-house training program, they will get some field training before they go to the academy, and then they will finish their field training afterwards. We should have them hopefully on the road late June or beginning of July, as long as they are accepted into the January academy. 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 July 24, 2024 were accepted as distributed. 7.B. Out-of-State School(s) Chief Canfield reviewed two out-of-state schools requested: A Victims Plea: Meeting Expectations requested by Dispatcher Dow and Dispatcher Copp. This school will take place in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Tuition is $250.00 and their travel time will be incorporated into their hours. It is a one day class. The APCO Atlantic Conference requested by Dispatcher Mountford. This is located in Portland, Maine. The total cost for that is $800.10, which includes tuition, rooms and meals. This is a three day conference November 17th through the 20th. On a Motion by Commissioner Mello, seconded by Commissioner Davis, and passed unanimously, the above two out-of-state schools were approved. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Activity Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Department Monthly Activity Highlights. No further discussion. 8. REVIEW OF MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS 8.A. Department Monthly Activity Highlights Chief Canfield reviewed the Department Monthly Activity Highlights. No further discussion. 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 reported we are currently 19.23% through budget year. For salaries and overtime we are trending at 19.16%, so we are below where we should be. Our overtime line item is at 29.46%, which is high, but typically our overtime line is overspent each year, but this year in particular with being down positions and having to cover shifts that need to be covered. We're certainly not covering them one for one and are covering them on an absolute must method. We are only covering what we absolutely have to. The budget is looking good so far. 8.D. Monthly Traffic Report Chief Canfield reviewed the Monthly Traffic Report. No further discussion. 8.E. Monthly Fleet Report No discussion. 9. CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM THE DEPARTMENT Chief Canfield advised we received a nice thank you note for Officers Bassett and DeNutte. We also received a nice note from the Fraternal Order of Police, which is an out-of-state organization, regarding Officer Skehan's incident, and another nice thank you not from an intern who was with us this past summer. 10. CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Canfield reported the following: At the beginning of August we had our CALEA accreditation on-site review. The assessor flew in on Sunday and was here all week and he drove him back to the airport Thursday afternoon. Our on-site went very well overall and he was impressed with our department. In fact, some of the stuff he saw, particularly some of the technology, he was going to bring back to some other agencies he is close with. He advised his initial conversations with him were very positive and the review went very well, but we will not know for sure until we appear before the Accrediting Commission in Jacksonville, Florida on November 15th and 16th. At that point, there will be hearings and we will have to appear before the Accrediting Commission. They will review our report, we will present an overview of the department, they will give us any feedback on the report, and then hopefully the next day we will be re-accredited by them. Chairman Whittum inquired of Chief Canfield if he will be going by himself. Chief Canfield advised Captain Graton and Robin Moyer will be going down for the full conference, which is all week, where they will attend training classes early in the week. He advised he will only be going down for the two days of hearings and the actual appearance before the Commission, so he will only be going for those couple of days. Chief Canfield advised overdoses year-to-date total 28, including two of which were fatal  Chairman Whittum inquired of Chief Canfield if he will be going by himself. Chief Canfield advised Captain Graton and Robin Moyer will be going down for the full conference, which is all week, where they will attend training classes early in the week. He advised he will only be going down for the two days of hearings and the actual appearance before the Commission, so he will only be going for those couple of days. Chief Canfield advised overdoses year-to-date total 28, including two of which were fatal overdoses. Our overdoses are trending downwards considerably and he attributes that more to the switch in the use of heroin/fentanyl, which causes more overdoses, to the use of methamphetamine, which we don't see as many overdoses. This is certainly not a problem that is going away, but shifting a bit. As far as Spidr Tech for the month of July, total messages were at 2949 messages sent, which is up 76.7%, and the survey completion rate was at 22.6%, which is up 3.3%. We are still receiving good survey completion rates and in the world of survey completion rates we have really good numbers. He can only assume the messages sent were up so much because of the influx of people in the area and calls for service. He advised he visited the Manchester Police Department during the month and went through their real time crime center. There are a lot of capabilities with a real time crime center, as it can incorporates access to a variety of different camera systems, whether they be business, public cameras, street cameras, school cameras, or anything such as that. He also attended a demonstration of this by the company and will be setting up another one in October and will get the invite out to the Commission to attend that demo. This is something he would like to explore creating. The technology and ability to move quickly in a rapid incident is absolutely amazing and is enhanced by this technology and the capabilities of having a real time crime center is pretty amazing. Chairman Whittum inquired how many cameras we have in place and Chief Canfield advised we have two camera trailers and they are both committed to the WOW trail right now. We also have a variety of pole cameras, most of which are up in the Weirs due to the Biketemberfest event last weekend. He indicated the system he spoke of would incorporate business cameras or Ring cameras or cameras such as those. This would really broaden our ability to capture an incident or to get video of crimes that occur. 11. OLD BUSINESS No discussion. 12. NEW BUSINESS 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 October 16, 2024 was confirmed. 16. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, the meeting was adjourned at 11:37 am.  The next Regular meeting date of October 16, 2024 was confirmed. 16. ADJOURNMENT On a Motion by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Mello, the meeting was adjourned at 11:37 am.