ROCHESTER POLICE COMMISSION
ROCHESTER, NH 03867
Paul J. Dumont, Chairman
Barry K. Flanagan, Commissioner
R. Gary Stenhouse, Commissioner
MINUTES OF THE POLICE COMMISSION MONTHLY MEETING
The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting on October 14, 2005. Present at this meeting was Comm. Flanagan, Comm. Stenhouse, Chief Dubois, Capt. Allen, Capt. Taylor, Capt. Callaghan, Attorney Grossman, and Secretary Warburton, members of the Department, the public and the media.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M.
Chairman Paul Dumont was excused due to illness.
All present gave the pledge of allegiance to the United States Flag.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT
Nothing was presented for public comment.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
Comm. Stenhouse MOVED to accept the minutes of the September 7, 2005 meeting. SECOND by Comm. Flanagan and PASSED unanimously.
4. OLD AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
A. Disorderly Residence Ordinance. Comm. Stenhouse inquired on the status of the disorderly residence ordinance. Captain Callaghan responded that he had spoken with a few landlords. He was hoping to arrange a follow up meeting in a couple of months, as had been previously discussed. Comm. Stenhouse advised that during a recent discussion he had with the City Manager of Franklin, this ordinance has not been particularly egregious in that community. Our purpose for looking into the same will be to promote better dialogue between landlords, the public and the police. The City Manager of Franklin is willing to attend and participate in meetings arranged regarding further development of this issue in Rochester.
5. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Recognition
1. Officer Keith MacKenzie. Chief Dubois invited Officer MacKenzie and Fina forward to give a brief description of a seizure that had taken place earlier this year in Kittery, Maine, as an assist to the DEA in Kittery, Maine. Chief Dubois advised that the Department was recently notified of being in line to receive a portion of the seized assets in this case. We have filed the requisite paperwork in that regard this week.
Officer MacKenzie advised that on this particular date he was en route to weekly training in Portsmouth with Fina. A request was made by the Working Dog Foundation for an officer with a K-9 to assist Kittery Police and the DEA on searching a car seized on suspicion of transporting illegal substances. Officer MacKenzie and Fina were dispatched to the scene.
Officer MacKenzie said that the DEA had a search warrant for this car, a brand new “five series” BMW. Fina did a walk around the car and then was allowed in the interior, where she “hit” on the dashboard. After some intensive reconstruction of the dashboard area a hidden compartment was revealed, and the contraband, 490 grams of crack cocaine, with an estimated street value of $200,000 dollars, was recovered from the vehicle.
2. A Certificate - National White Collar Crime Center. The Rochester Police Department recently received voting membership rights in this organization. This is an arm of the Department of Justice fighting these types of crimes. This will allow us to network with peers in the field and provide us access to free training in data recovery, financial crimes against the elderly, forensic recovery of computers. These crimes are happening now and continue to happen. We are in the forefront of getting officers training in how to combat these criminal offenses.
B. Accept Resignation: Officer Keith Dietenhofer
Comm. Stenhouse MOVED to accept the resignation of Officer Dietenhofer. SECOND by Comm. Flanagan and PASSED unanimously.
C. Review/Award Educational Incentives: Officer Kimbrough and Officer Whelan. Comm. Flanagan noted that he had reviewed the transcripts of these officers and recommended approving the same. Comm. Stenhouse noted for the record that Officer Kimbrough possesses an Associates Degree from MacIntosh College and Officer Whelan possesses a Bachelor’s Degree from Norwich University.
Comm. Stenhouse MOVED to award the educational incentive as authorized by contract for Officer’s Kimbrough and Whelan. SECOND by Comm. Flanagan and PASSED unanimously.
D. Energy Savings Plan: Review and Discuss. Chief Dubois noted that this had been covered in the newspaper already. The City Manager had asked for thoughts from the department heads on energy savings ideas, as we approach the colder months of the year. Some of the things we looked at were doubling up the cruisers. Capt. Taylor finalized this issue today, noting that the energy savings would not outweigh the losses incurred by routinely doubling up. Supervisors will use their discretion on this, based on staffing and activity. We will wait for further action in this regard following the City Manager’s review of all the submitted data.
Comm. Stenhouse inquired if we had reviewed the use of cruisers at outside details and considered charging that back to the vendors.
Chief Dubois replied that this had been researched extensively in the past. We do have a 20 percent administrative fee charged on outside details, which covers things like retirement benefits and the like. The cruiser time is recovered in that fee.
Comm. Stenhouse commented that when those studies were done, the City was probably paying less than $1.00 per gallon wholesale, of gasoline. We are probably paying at least $2.00 per gallon now. We may want to look at that again.
Chief Dubois stated that we can look at that again, as part of our plan, and discuss the same with the business administrator.
E. Grant from Police Standards and Training for Executive Development Course: Review and Accept. Comm. Stenhouse commented that he liked to see our senior officers seeking out these types of courses, noting that he has heard excellent things about this particular course. Capt. Allen concurred. This is a three-part course. He attended the first session already and the next session is set for the second week of November.
Comm. Stenhouse MOVED to accept the grant award from Police Standards and Training and to forward the same to the City Council for approval. SECOND by Comm. Flanagan and PASSED unanimously.
F. Police Department Annual Report 2004/2005: Review of first draft. Comm. Stenhouse inquired why this was a first draft? Chief Dubois replied it is because we prefer to have the Commission input in case they see things we should add.
Comm. Stenhouse commented that he is pleased with the accomplishments that we’ve achieved over the past year, to include the integration of comp stat, completion of the Project 54 cars, finding funding to implement Reverse 911, and restructuring the investigative services bureau to better define positions. Comm. Stenhouse felt it was an excellent report. We will bring this back next month for a final reading to ensure that Chairman Dumont has the opportunity to offer input on the report.
G. Job Description: Traffic Unit (Temporary Assignment): Review, first reading
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to waive the second reading and accept the job description as presented. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse. Open for discussion.
Comm. Stenhouse inquired if we could make this a non temporary position? It was noted that is standard language and does not mean the concept is temporary, but that personnel assigned are not guaranteed the assignment on a permanent basis. We do this with detective positions, K9, HUD, and a variety of other assignments.
Comm. Stenhouse inquired if we ever send officers to the Northwestern Traffic Institute? Chief Dubois stated he believes that was where we sent Officer Harding for motorcycle instructor school. However, we take advantage of courses offered more economically through the police academy whenever we can, before sending officers to schools out of state.
The job description as presented, PASSED unanimously.
H. Standard Operating Procedures Updates:
1. SOP 11; Use of Handcuffs; First Reading
2. SOP 38; Missing Persons; First Reading
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to waive the second readings and accept the updates to SOP 11, and SOP 38, as presented. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.
Comm. Stenhouse asked that a better method of defining the changes is used, so they stand out more clearly from the original document.
I. Bureau Commander Reports:
1. Patrol Bureau: Capt. Taylor reported that we are working on the downtown graffiti. We have developed a suspect and may be making an arrest. The information sharing between the shifts, getting officers out to these affected areas has been very beneficial.
We have had the speed trailer up on Route 11, and are pulling some good data from it. We are able to target specific time periods from the data we pull, which will make us more effective in targeting problem time periods. The traffic unit will be setting up the unit and downloading the reports. Downtown, the parking enforcement officer logged 22 hours this reporting period and issued 60 parking tickets.
Comm. Flanagan encouraged the viewing audience to call the patrol division about having the speed trailer in their neighborhoods, understanding it can’t be in every neighborhood at once. Comm. Stenhouse commented that for most drivers, the speed signs have a positive impact.
2. Investigations Bureau: Capt. Callaghan noted that the detectives’ bureau worked on several high profile cases this month, including the justified homicide on Pine Street, an alleged sexual assault downtown, and the officer involved shooting downtown. The Attorney General’s office just sent us a letter recognizing our members for the work that we did in those two high profile cases. We also had a heroin overdose on Pine Street and within hours had made a drug seizure and arrest. As Captain Taylor noted, the information sharing between bureaus has been excellent and allowed for some outstanding work by all members involved.
We have had an increase in burglaries this month. However, we also have an increase in arrests from commercial burglaries. We have solved two of three burglaries, arresting both juveniles and adults. Patrol has been doing a very good job with the field interviews. And we have been able to present some good cases to the County Attorney.
Capt. Callaghan said that we are moving forward with cyber crime and are working on some difficult cases that are happening now in this community. We have teamed up with the Attorney General’s initiative and the NH cyber crime plan. We will have access to free training for officers to learn how to investigate these crimes. We are also associated with the Internet Crimes Against Children initiatives and will have access to some cutting edge material.
Comm. Flanagan noted that we should be very proud of the accolade from the Attorney General. Those are not issued lightly.
3. Administrative Bureau: Capt. Allen reported that we have finalized our CIP requests for the next five years. A brief overview of what we are looking at includes:
In FY 07, a new crime van. The one we have was manufactured in 1986 and obtained in 1995 through a government surplus program. Parts are hard to find. We requested this last year in the budget and it was cut. We are making it a priority this year. We anticipate the cost of the vehicle will be between $100 and $150,000 dollars. This will have state of the art equipment that will allow us to have all that we need to process crime scenes. With the cases that we are seeing, we will need to have this equipment available to staff.
Comm. Stenhouse asked if we had researched homeland security monies for this?
Capt. Allen stated that we have. We recently had applied for a vehicle through homeland monies and we were denied, based on the fact that we have already received a command vehicle with a prior homeland security grant. We are reluctant to submit this request for that grant based on that.
Chief Dubois advised this vehicle we are looking at will combine two vehicles. We have a separate TAR vehicle and a separate crime scene vehicle. We believe we can economically dovetail those two together and save funds.
In FY 08 we recommend replacing the Department handguns and leather gear. Our sidearms are eight years old. This model is no longer manufactured and obtaining replacement parts is challenging. Looking long term, if we add new officers, we need to all be using the same weapons. We will be looking hard at this issue by FY 08. We estimate the cost to be in the area of $40,000. There will be some trade value for the weapons we currently have.
In FY 09, we will be looking to replace the fitness equipment. The equipment we have was donated through the generosity of some local vendors. There was no cost to the taxpayer to outfit that room. Fitness is an important standard and we are getting huge benefits from the room. Many officers and staff are using the facility. The equipment in that room is refurbished equipment and by FY 09 we will need to replace some of it, especially the cardio equipment.
In FY 10 we are looking to purchase an SUV for the K-9 Team. We think we can hold off until then, with the car currently assigned to that unit. This will allow him the flexibility to carry all of the things needed for this position.
In FY 11 we are looking to purchase simulator equipment to enhance our firearm training programs. This is an extra tool, with a cost of approximately $30,000 (based on today’s figures) depending on the features.
With regard to our information systems, we plan to upgrade our computers, replacing many of the aged units. We have been having some computer issues lately with units locking up and losing reports. We hope the upgraded systems will resolve those issues.
In closing, we had anticipated the AVL/GPS to be up and running by now. We have located the additional hardware needed (a router) and that is scheduled to be installed by a vendor in the coming week. We are cautiously optimistic that this will be up and running in two weeks time.
J. Other
1. Training Opportunity. Comm. Stenhouse noted that several staff from Rochester attended the recent Supervisor’s Academy I at Primex. He heard high praise for all the participants, and in particular for those from Rochester. Chief Dubois said our prosecutor and our communications supervisor attended this training.
6. CORRESPONDENCE:
A. Appreciation and Recognition. Sgt. Jason Thomas is thanked by the Goodwin family for assistance with wild life at the home. Officer Jeremiah Murphy and Officer Keith MacKenzie are thanked by the Small family for their professionalism and assistance during an accident investigation. Mrs. Gardner thanks Off. Bob Frechette and Officer Eric Babine for assistance with a medical emergency at the home. Lt. Gould recognizes the midnight shift, including Specialists Jay Daigle and Helen Leonard, as well as Officer Justin Livingstone, Officer Brenden Bentz, Officer Brandon Kimbrough, and Officer Jeremiah Murphy for their handling of the incident at 80 Pine Street. Lt. Gould, in turn, is recognized by Captain Taylor for her supervision of this incident. Lt. Gould is also
thanked by the NH Police Cadet Academy for her assistance as on the Academy cadre in June. Lastly, the Seacoast Harley Owner’s Group thanks the Department for traffic assistance during a charity motorcycle ride to benefit the Cocheco Valley Humane Society. Comm. Flanagan commented, on behalf of the Chairman, that it is nice to receive these letters and recognize good people for doing a good job.
7. INFORMATION:
A. Financial Reports - September 2005. Comm. Flanagan commented that our overtime was a bit high this past month. This was attributed to several major case investigations happening in close proximity to one another.
B. Information Other; enclosed with Agenda.
1. Dog Licensing Letter. Comm. Stenhouse noted that he was pleased to see our response to the concern received regarding the dog licensing letter. He felt the response was well written and sensitive to the resident. Admittedly it was more difficult for this resident to receive this letter, as the dogs had died. However, as a dog owner himself, he too would have been offended at receiving such a letter. He said, “I hope we do follow through and modify the letter for next year.”
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION:
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to enter a non-public session at 6:50 P.M. for the purpose of personnel and legal matters. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse. The motion PASSED by roll call vote, Comm. Stenhouse-yes, Comm. Flanagan-yes. The non-public session closed at 7:01 P.M. on a MOTION by Comm. Flanagan, SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.
9. MISCELLANEOUS:
At the close of the non-public sessions the following action or discussion occurred:
A. Merit Increases, Union
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to award a merit increase, based on a passing evaluation to the next step in the contract for Officer Hana Stickles. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.
B. Top of Grade Adjustments, Union
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to award top of step adjustments per the contract to Sgt. Stephen Burke, Officer George Cahill and Officer Gary Boudreau. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.
10. ADJOURNMENT:
Comm. Flanagan MOVED to adjourn. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse at 7:05 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rebecca J. Warburton
Secretary
Adopted by the Commission:
November 2, 2005
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