Police Commission Minutes 12/05/2007

The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting in the City Hall, Council Chambers on Wednesday, December 5, 2007. Present at this meeting was, Comm. Flanagan, Comm. Dumont, Comm. McManus, Comm.-Elect Levesque, Chief Dubois, Dep. Chief Allen, Capt. Callaghan, Capt. Dumas, Lt. Taylor, Lt. Toussaint, Mayor Larochelle, Attorney Grossman, Chaplain Ron Lachapelle, and Secretary Warburton.

Comm. Flanagan noted for the record several other people the audience, including former Commissioner Stenhouse, former Chief=s of Police Kenneth Hussey, Donald Vittum and Daniel Auger. Also recognized were officers at the state and county level who came out to share in the evening with the Commission.

Herman Ejarque, Governor=s Inn. Mr. Ejarque wished to congratulate the Rochester Police Department and commend them for the excellent job and show down that occurred on Friday. AThere was a misunderstanding in the media regarding comments that I made and I would like to clarify that because I do think the Rochester Police did an excellent job.@ AI witnessed a lot of it and I felt the Police Department was very expedient, very efficient and very organized and handled the press very well.@

It certainly was a matter of public safety and concern for all of us, myself included. I knew some of the hostages in the Clinton campaign office, my brother and his wife live in the same building, upstairs. We were all very worried about the situation and coming back in the parking lot I ran into John Scruton, the City Manager, and I mentioned this thing had gotten so big and unfortunately in a situation like this it may not make our City look great. I didn=t think the media represented it very well and unfortunately this type of an incident is going to cost the taxpayer a lot of money. It was because I felt there was a huge amount of federal agencies, a huge amount of state police. This was misconstrued in the media because in no way did I institute that the Rochester Police Department was not doing a great job and I just want to congratulate you all for doing that and to clarify that.

Comm. McManus noted that the agenda indicates the minutes of October 3, 2007 are to be adopted. It should state November 7, 2007. Additionally the minutes do not reflect that meeting took place in the police department. This is part of history and should reflect the same.

A. Accreditation Update. Chief Dubois noted that we are still on track. Lt. Toussaint is moving forward with the process. We are in the process of getting our new updated manual into the hands of all officers. They have it now, they are reviewing it and we will document that review and any training that goes along with it. We will move on from there and start building files so that we will be ready for an on site review in several months.

Comm. Dumont MOVED to accept the notice of intent to retire from Lt. Jeffrey Taylor, with regret. Comm. McManus SECONDED the motion, also with regret. The motion PASSED unanimously.

B. CIP Budget: Any Discussion. Comm. Dumont noted that one thing in the CIP was the Tasers.His feelings on that are known. This Commission has been and voted against the Taser . The next Commission can change it.

Comm. McManus stated that he feels this is a tool that the City of Rochester is going to need. With proper training, not that everyone would have them, but maybe the command cars would for use in an emergency situation. Hopefully you=ll never have to use it, but it=s a tool for safety I would like to see Rochester have.

Comm. Dumont replied that the new Commission is entitled to reinstate it and he has no objection if they do that. AI personally feel the people that want the Tasers most are the ones that sell them and manufacture them. There were three deaths attributed to Tasers over the weekend and officers have too much junk on their belts anyway.@

Comm. McManus noted that the CIP also contained a request for new equipment to keep officers in shape. He noted he is all for that, but rather than use the taxpayers= money, he=d like to see us get some grants. The Fire Department got grants for their exercise room. I=m sure there are funds out there to keep Officers fit. Rather than burden the taxpayer we should look into that, or possibly the Police Benevolent Association was thinking of helping out. And then, we need to let the governing body, the one that has the taxpayers dollars in their hand know what we are thinking about. I don=t want to go and have a meeting and then get shot down. I=d try to keep communications open with that other body, which is the City Council.

Comm. Flanagan responded that when he first started in 1993, he was lambasted, publicly, about not getting grant money, and the need to get grant money, from the City Councilor in Ward 2, who is still there. And then in 2006 I was told you=ve got to stop the grant money. We=re tired of the grants and we don=t want no more. I want everyone to know we are still going after grant money. This Department has done a wonderful job with grant money. I agree, if we can get the grant money, we should because it=s less money that the taxpayers have to pay. You don=t want to upset the City Council, so you need to make sure you have them on your side when you do that.

Comm. Dumont noted the motion was on the floor to remove the Tasers from the CIP. Comm. Flanagan said he would err on the side of caution regarding the three recent deaths attributed to Tasers.

C. Oath of Office: Comm. Flanagan administered the oath of office to Gary Boudreau for the position of patrol sergeant. Gary=s family and friends, as well as Department members and other guests were on hand to witness his achievement.

D. Achievement Recognitions: Chief Dubois indicated the Police Commission asked him to emcee the meeting from this point forward. He said we have a number of awards this evening and it warms our hearts to see so many people come and share this night with us. We really appreciate the support of the local legislators and members of our City Council who are here, [Councilor=s Stanley, Lachapelle and Healey, as well as Mayor Larochelle who was introduced earlier]. More important than that are the family and friends that are here to support the officers to be honored here tonight.

It is really the support that we get from our homes that allow us to serve the communities that we do every day. To have you here it is very special. It=s nice to have the officers from the area here. It is nice to be part of a law enforcement family here in the county and to have the support we=ve been getting from other chief=s in the area in Rochester for the things we are doing on that level now.

1. Strafford County Regional Tactical Operations Unit. November 30, 2007 started out just like so many others for police officers in this county, doing our day to day law enforcement duties in the cities and towns we work in. But at 12:40 all of that changed for us when a serious incident came to the attention of the communications center. The national media descended on us in about 30 minutes and we had our hands full.

Up until this point, the face on that incident has been me, Capt. Paul Callaghan; who did a wonderful job with the media issues that he had to deal with, the Colonel of the NH State Police, Fred Booth and Kelly Ayotte, our NH Attorney General. Tonight I get the opportunity to introduce to you and the public to the dedicated men and women who were behind the scenes, doing the work, that allowed us Atalking heads@ to do the things we had to do.

It starts with cooperation between Fire, Police, School, Public Works. These are components in any city and town government and the work we do in advance really makes a difference on things like this. We are lucky to have a strong business community. Our Main Street program was intimately involved. Ben Franklin Crafts closed their doors to the public and opened them to law enforcement. Profile Bank gave us a location to deal with the vast amount of media. We have a strong community in Rochester and that interaction allowed us to address this.

Our first officers on the scene set up the incident command, perimeters and started the protection of the people, the evacuation process, getting people safely out and securing the area so that advance teams could come in and do the work they do. That=s where our cooperation with other county law enforcement really paid off.

Our tactical team that was recently formed, this was the first call out of that team. The first time they=ve done anything other than train together, and it got national attention. I=d like to ask Police Chief Tony Colarusso of the City of Dover to come and join me up here. He has been a wonderful partner to the City of Rochester. All the Chief=s in Strafford County are working together and the public gets the benefit of that.

The Chief was joined on the dais by Chief Colarusso, and the leadership of the Tactical Team including Lt. Paul Toussaint, Sgt. Mike Lyzak of the Durham Police Department, Sgt. Anthony Deluca and Sgt. Gary Boudreau of the Rochester Police Department. He said, ACooperation among law enforcement hasn=t always been in place. We are a group with a lot of egos and territorial problems. When you can get a group of law enforcement officers from different police departments to work together like this it=s really important. These folks were line leadership for our local team, making some big decisions on this incident.@ We have an award to present to the Team from the City of Rochester.

The award is presented to the Strafford County Regional Tactical Operations Unit in recognition of team cohesiveness Awhile the world watched.@ That is what happened. These officers were working under very difficult conditions, while literally the world was watching them do the job they were doing.

Chief Colarusso noted he is pleased to make this presentation to the commander of the incident we=ve all been talking about. There is a lot of pressure on the commander, who is in charge of the tactics C do we or do we not use deadly force? While the world watched just adds to the pressure. Everyone was trying to get information on this. People=s lives were at stake. Lt. Kerlee has more than 18 years in law enforcement and he has extensive experience in tactical operations. On behalf of that team we present you with this award.

Lt. Kerlee said he could not go on without recognizing a couple of folks at the back of the room who are part of this team. Carol Griffin, Andy Neal and Bruce Daigle are part of the tactical dispatch crew. AI can=t say enough about the law enforcement leadership and response in this community. When I arrived a lot of the work was already done. The street was cleared, the buildings evacuated and people were out of the area. That was a big plus. It says a lot about the Police and Fire working together in Rochester.@ Our negotiating team, Chris Meyer of the Dover Police Department did a very good job that day. Det. Lustwerk and Det. Stickles with Rochester added elements that made that go better and better. We couldn=t have done it without them. I=m proud to be a member of this team. We=ve only been together for six months. We=ve trained hard together, worked hard together and this was our first real call out.

Chief Dubois presented one additional award, to Deputy Chief Michael Allen who had the role of incident command. He had the overall coordination of the law enforcement response which consisted of local, county, state, and federal agencies including the FBI, the Secret Service, ATF, C a very complex group. In addition he had to involve the fire department, schools, public works and the downtown community. He also had to work with the media so they could do their job. The media has a huge role. Mike has a tactical background, but more important was his strong and sincere desire to keep the community safe. Chief Dubois said, AMike, I=m proud to have you as my second in command.@

Deputy Chief Allen said that he has never been more proud to be a Rochester Police Officer than he was today. The Chief has given others credit, but he deserves a round of applause. If you have ever had to stand in front of fifty cameras and be grilled with tough questions, being pressured to answer without jeopardizing the investigation, that=s not an easy task. Deputy Chief Allen continued, noting that his job was easy because of the outstanding leadership and other folks in charge of things outside of the tactical operation. There were probably 100 law enforcement officers involved and all of them deserve a big thank you for the outstanding job.

2. Volunteer of the Year. Chief Dubois noted that we are probably behind many others in law enforcement regarding the use of volunteers. This is an underutilized resource that saves the taxpayers money. We have intensified our program over the past couple of years.

Our volunteer of the year this year is Kellie Brochu. Capt. Dumas oversees the volunteer program and she has been a big help in overall management of the volunteers. She works in our lobby area to help citizens get the assistance they need, which frees up officers. She is also working in crime prevention with our business community. Chief Dubois asked Capt. Dumas to present Kellie with a plaque.

3. Support Person of the Year. Chief Dubois said that we have a support team behind the police officers. The support person of the year this year is Tina Desjardin, our parking enforcement officer. Tina has been with the Department for about two years. She is important to our downtown. She also patrols the malls and schools for parking violations. A police chief will get more complaints about parking tickets than arrests and other more serious motor vehicle violations. Since Tina has been on board, we don=t get a lot of those, because she has a wonderful personality, which has been noticed by many in the community. Comm. McManus presented the recognition plaque to Tina as Support Person of the Year 2007.

4. Blair Memorial Award. Chief Dubois asked the members of the Blair family to join him on the dais, along with the former Rochester Police Chief=s present as they had all worked with Ted Blair. He noted that this is a special award as Ted was a career police officer serving in all the ranks until his appointment to Chief. He was a model police officer who always kept in mind the root of law enforcement and what our main purpose was, in everything he did. He was a very special person and he is fondly remembered by the Police Department.

The person we will honor tonight is Officer Michael Miehle. Officer Miehle treats people the way we want to be treated. He=s the kind of officer that after an incident like we had on November 30^th, he is shaking doors downtown, making sure people locked their door. He is the type of police officer that lives in the community he serves, loves the community he lives in and cares about the people he serves. He is an outstanding police officer that we are lucky to have.

Officer Mihele was presented with a plaque from Comm. Dumont, and a ribbon to wear on his uniform from Chief Blair=s father. Flowers were presented to Officer Miehle=s wife. Officer Miehle was requested to say a few words.

Officer Miehle said that he didn=t have the pleasure of working with Chief Blair, but he has heard stories in the hallway and his spirit is still alive with the whole organization. AI think I truly would have enjoyed working with him and I=m sorry to not have that opportunity. To be recognized and associated with such a person touches me quite deeply and I appreciate the recognition.@

5. Retirement Recognition . Chief Dubois said the next recognition we will give is to Officer Anthony Macaione, retiring from full time service with the Department. He started his career in the military, served in the State of Florida and for a short time in Laconia before coming to Rochester. Officer Macaione has a handle on what=s happening because he loves and cares about this City. He has an ability to talk to everyone.

Some of you may remember the Dingman homicide from a few years back. It doesn=t matter what the media said, or what the State Police or investigators did when they got there. I was the Captain of that division at the time. This is the guy (Macaione) that solved that homicide. A street cop doing street work and he did it by talking to people. We will miss you as a full time officer, but are glad to have you still serving in a part time capacity.

Comm. Flanagan stated Ain 1989 my father was a police commissioner, and he swore Tony in and by the grace of God, I get to retire him.@ He continued, A Tony has served 18.5 years as a patrol officer, by choice. He wanted to be Ain the trenches@ for the instant gratification that he gets working with people every day. He may be retiring as a patrolman, but will always be a Chief in my heart.@ Comm. Flanagan also thanked Officer Macaione=s wife Polly, noting Abehind every good man is a better woman.@

Officer Macaione was presented with an engraved granite rock from the City. Chief Dubois said each one we issue we try to think of a phrase that captures the person. Officer Macaione=s says Astory teller.@

Chief Dubois had an additional presentation to make to Officer Macaione on behalf of the Benevolent Association, a shadow box containing a police uniform shirt which was worn with pride. Chief Dubois said the uniform of a police officer changes with the seasons, from long sleeves to short sleeves, tie or no tie, or covered with a jacket. Some things stay consistent. In this shadow box, we have service stripes denoting at least fifteen years of service, the badge of a patrol officer, as that=s where police work is done. He has ribbons that signified he was a field training officer - teaching others the job, the honorable service bar - no blemishes on his record, the military service bar - noting prior military experience, the distinguished unit action bar - means he was a team player, and the lifesaving bar - meaning he has saved lives in the course of his career.

Chief Dubois presented flowers to Polly Macaione, noting that he knows she has been a wonderful support to him. AWhen Tony came on the job, I [Chief Dubois] was a Sergeant. We spent time in a cruiser, working some fun calls and some touchy calls. But in doing that you talk about your family. He never had a bad word to say about you, and I know he loves you very much. Enjoy your retirement together.A

Officer Macaione was given a chance to speak. He thanked everyone for coming out for all that received awards and recognition this evening. He stated that he got his NH certification from his grandfather. AI was able to start working in Rochester before he passed away. It has been a great achievement to serve 18.5 years in Rochester. I=m very proud of that. I=m proud of my family and I do love my wife. She has been with me every step of the way.@ AI have had great Chiefs to work for including Chief Hussey, Chief Vittum, Chief Auger, Chief Blair and Chief Dubois. The current Commission has been great to work for and to the new one coming in I hope it all works out. Thank you very much. A

6. Service Recognition - Rochester Police Commission. Chief Dubois noted we have a presentation to make is to the Commission currently leaving office. It has been an honor to serve these elected officials. We have worked closely and intimately over the years. I=m going to miss everyone of them. I have had a lot of bosses in my life and these are three of the best. I=m going to miss their guidance and support as Commissioners and as people. I=d like to highlight some of the accomplishments we=ve made while they were in office.

This memorandum is extremely important, and I think the former Chief=s here would agree, because it cleared up a lot of the disputes and stuff that historically has gotten in the way of getting the job done for political leaders in this police department.

We employ police officers that are better prepared than at any other time in history and that holds true in Rochester. We have the best group of men and women we=ve ever had. These gentlemen know they are capable of a lot more than just getting to a call fast and then to the next one.

We are much better prepared today because of the hard work of these three. I going to miss them in so many ways. I want to make that clear. They really understand American policing today is much more than responding to incidents. American police officers are held to higher accountability than just getting to calls. They are held to an accountability to reduce crime and the fear of crime. The police can impact crime if they take time to influence human behavior and they do that through building relationships with people. This Commission held me to that standard for my six years in office as the Police Chief in this City. I think its improved this city and Department.

Chief Dubois [speaking to the Commission] said, AI=m going to remember what you taught me these past six years and I will use it as I police into the future.@ Plaques were give to each of the Commissioners.

Chief Dubois said to Comm. Dumont, you never hired an officer or promoted one without these words Atreat people they way you want to be treated, the way you want your family to be treated.@ Thank you for that.

Comm. Dumont said that he is leaving this place Aa little better than when I came. It was good when I got here, but now it=s even better. It=s one heck of a Department from the bottom all the way to the top command. The Chief is really good. I can=t say enough about him.@ Comm. Dumont recognized and thanked his family as well as his County colleagues and friends for attending.

Chief Dubois said to Comm. Stenhouse you have been in City government most of your adult life and you have a risk management background. AThank you for pushing me, making sure we were doing things the right way.@

Comm. Stenhouse said he enjoyed being a police commissioner and working for the city in the past. AThis position has taught me one thing B that three people can disagree without taking it personal and I hope the new Commission can live in that same spirit and vein.@

Comm. Flanagan noted that he was appointed to the Commission in 1993 and then elected in 1995. He said that he has worked for a lot of people in his life and has had good mentors, including Roger Beaudoin, Ron Lachapelle, Mr. Hart, Paul Dumont, Gary Stenhouse. He worked with Chief=s Vittum, Auger and Dubois, but missed the opportunity to work with Chief Blair. Many of the officers serving the Department were hired during his tenure. He said, AI want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for working with me, guiding me and for understanding where I come from.@

7. Police Standards and Training Presentation. Chief Dubois said the Director of Police Standards and Training has a presentation to make. He is a former Police Chief and a wonderful law enforcement executive.

Director Vittum noted that Police Standards and Training enjoys the support of all the Chiefs and Departments in the State, including the County Sheriff=s. He thanked the Strafford County Commissioners for allowing the Sheriff to send people to the Academy to assist with training. He noted that Police Standards and Training enjoys the support of these agencies that work with us training and influencing new police officers. They are the backbone of law enforcement, the ones that teach our new people the future and we need to applaud them for the job they do.

Director Vittum said to Chairman Flanagan we have known each other a long time. Chairman Flanagan became a police officer under the influence of his father, and it was his father that influenced many to enter the law enforcement profession. Chairman Flanagan has been very supportive to Police Standards and his leadership has led law enforcement to a new future. Director Vittum thanked the Chairman and presented him with a plaque from everyone at Police Standards and Training.

Director Vittum said to Vice Chairman Gary Stenhouse that he has been a great friend and a tremendous City Manager. He noted that when they talked about police budgets in the past one thing Gary always said whether it was to me [Dir. Vittum], Chief Auger or Chief Dubois, was that he wanted good police training. He has been very supportive of Standards and Training, and we have watched him deal with risk management for the State of New Hampshire. He has influenced numerous organizations to do it the right way. Director Vittum thanked the Comm. Stenhouse and presented him with a plaque from everyone at Police Standards and Training.

Director Vittum said to Comm. Dumont that he has been very supportive of police community relations. In his role at the County, with his fellow Commissioner=s he has been a support to Police Standards and Training at the county level. He said we can=t thank the Commissioner enough for allowing the Sheriff=s and Police Chief=s in this County to work with us on a daily basis. He has worked hard and done a lot for us. Director Vittum thanked the Comm. Dumont for his dedication and support of police training and presented him with a plaque from everyone at Police Standards and Training.

8. Presentation of Retirement Badge. Chief Dubois stated that a few years back we gave retirement badges to all officers who didn=t get one. Comm. Flanagan felt strongly about that and we supported it. At that time we got all the prior Chief=s here, except one. Well we got him here tonight. So, I=m going to give him his retirement badge. Chief Dubois said, ADon Vittum, here is your retirement badge, for serving this Department between 1991 and 1995.@

1. Patrol Division: Deputy Chief Allen. We have directed resources to local retail areas and shopping center parking lots as a proactive prevention method for thefts and shoplifting that typically occur during the holidays. We continue to address criminal mischief issues in various areas of the city. We started to see some improvement to response times for lower priority calls for service in the city this past reporting period. We will continue to monitor this issue and look for more improvement in the months ahead.

Our weekly mission statements have been modified this past period to include more detailed follow up reports from line supervision. This has improved the system and we look forward to continued success into the future.

All of the six city wards now have police representation at the officer and sergeant level. The completion of this phase of the system will create the opportunity for increased police community interaction throughout the city from this point forward

2. Support Division: Capt. Scott Dumas. Investigators have had great success this past period with burglary and robbery investigations. All detective have been busy with an increase in Part 1 Crime this past period.

We continue to make progress with our accreditation process. The redistribution of sworn staff from support division positions to patrol division positions has impacted, to some degree, our ability to build files for the process. We will continue to monitor as we move forward and have plans to build support for the process into the FY-09 Budget.

3. Communications. Our communications supervisor has taken a job in the private sector. Police/Fire Command staff have assumed those duties during the search for a replacement. We anticipate filling the position by early Spring of 2008.

4. Financial./ Administrative Report: We have started work on the FY-09 budget process. We anticipate having no problems keeping on track with the city schedule for this process. We have started work on a bid for the new 4x4. It is our hope that the vehicle will be in place within a couple of months.

We honored several members of the department at our yearly recognition ceremony this past period. We have prepared newly elected police commissioners for the role which takes effect January 1, 2008. They have been supplied with a policy manual, organization chart, and a copy of our past 12 monthly reports for review. We have also met with the new group for a department tour and introductory question/answer session.

A. Appreciation and Recognition: Hana Stickles is nominated for Employee of the Month. Off. Stroud and Sgt. Burke are commended for professionalism during a traffic stop. Sgt. Burke is thanked by a Ms. O=Leary for a motorist assist.

Comm. Dumont MOVED that a merit increase be awarded, based on a satisfactory evaluation to the next step in the contract, to: Off. Jeremiah Murphy. The motion was SECONDED by Comm. McManus and PASSED unanimously.