Police Commission Minutes
Rochester Police Commission
Rochester, NH 03867
Lucien G. Levesque, Chairman
Bruce E. Lindsay, Commissioner
Derek J. Peters, Commissioner
MINUTES OF THE POLICE COMMISSION MEETING
The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting at City Hall, Council Chambers on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Present at this meeting was Comm. Levesque, Comm. Lindsay, Comm. Peters, Chief Allen, Capt. Toussaint, Capt. Toussaint and Secretary Warburton as well as invited guests, members of the Department and the media.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M.
A. Pledge. All participated in the Pledge of Allegiance.
B. Prayer. Comm. Levesque led the opening prayer.
C. Roll Call. The clerk called the roll marking all Commissioner’s present.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES:
A. October 7, 2015 regular meeting*
Comm. Peters MOVED to accept the minutes of the October 7, 2015 regular meeting as presented. SECOND by Comm. Lindsay and PASSED unanimously.
*There was no regular Commission meeting convened in November 2015.
4. OLD AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
D. Policy Updates: Second Reading for Adoption
1). Policy 71.1.1 Arrest Procedures, Booking Room.
Comm. Peters MOVED to adopt Policy Standard 71.1.1 Arrest Procedures, Booking Room as updated. SECOND by Comm. Lindsay and PASSED unanimously.
5. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Awards and Recognitions
1) Recognition for 20 years of Service. Chief Allen issued a plaque commemorating 20 years of service by Dep. Chief Scott Dumas. He noted some of the career accomplishments of the Deputy Chief, stating that Scott is a valued member of the senior management team.
2) Blair Memorial Award – Sgt. Andrew Swanberry. This marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Chief Theodore Blair. Sgt. Andrew Swanberry was selected as the recipient this year. Members of the Blair family were on hand to participate in the award, and flowers were presented to Sgt. Swanberry’s wife for her support of him in his role as a police officer.
B. Monthly Reports.
1. Operations. Capt. Toussaint said the K9 unit had a busy month with 16 call outs. There were three tracks and two drug searches in the City. The remaining callouts were outside the City. This depicts a typical month for the team. Off. Mackenzie also did a talk and demonstration with the DEA in Whitefield as well as a presentation to our Explorers. Any of his calls in Rochester is on our dollar and any outside of Rochester are borne by the Sheriff’s Department.
The Honor Guard was active for the month assisting the Veteran’s Council on Veteran’s Day.
The numbers from Compstat still look good. Our proactive numbers are up. There were more than 1200 motor vehicle stops for the month. This is a big part of our strategy. Only small percentages are summonses; the contact is just as important. Traffic Stops are up 48% over this same period last year. With more officers on the street helping with the call volume arrests from stops are up 38% year to date and DWI is up 51% over this same period last year. We are concerned that of the 83 DWI arrests; 20 were from accidents. Unfortunately, we are not catching them all. We monitor for patterns, time of day or locations where people drink but nothing commonly connects them.
Along with our proactive work our property crime numbers are down in all categories. There has been a slight uptick in MV theft. We are seeing a lot of unauthorized use of a vehicle, meaning it’s someone the owner knows that is taking the car without permission.
We have seen a slight uptick in thefts from motor vehicles as well. The crime analyst is producing data about when these are happening and the Ward Officers are on top of that. A high percentage of the vehicles are unlocked. They are rattling doors and taking what is quick and portable. When they are locked most are not bothered unless there is clearly something of value in plain sight.
Chief Allen said to jump off some of those points your report shows you that property crime is down 33% for the year. It has been a strong emphasis of ours that we have struggled with over the past several years. The strategy employed over the past year targeting high crime areas with higher levels of reported drug activity has been extremely effective. The motor vehicle work being done translates to the numbers we have seen. Those are not just random.
This is not just property crime but drug activity reported that has translated to an 118% increase in drug arrests year to date. In 2014 there were 83; in 2015, we are at 118. We are making more arrests from traffic stops and more drug arrests so the workload is simply being redistributed from reactive to proactive and that makes a difference in the community. It’s an important distinction to note. We’ve improved our retention rates through various means and are more proactive with better results. The value of having cops and boots on the ground is in these results. The men and women doing the work are making a difference in the community, making the community safe for families and a destination for people to move here and want to live here.
On the support side of the house, the investigations bureau responded to five call outs. There were two untimely deaths, one sexual assault and two armed robberies that were solved within hours.
Det. Bourque had two ICAC raids in the state and also spent time at the lab in Manchester processing computers. We processed 8 phones through the Cellebrite software for Rochester cases. Many of these cases have cell phones involved that contain evidence that we can download and collect.
We did four pawn shop compliance checks to ensure compliance with the ordinance, with no issues.
We assisted the FBI with a child pornography case and we also assisted in capturing a fugitive from justice.
The Communications Center’s big news is the staffing. We filled the final open position to bring us to full staff. We have three in training but when they are released from training we will be looking at a consistent 3-3-2 staffing of shifts.
Officer Miehle is settling well into the Community Engagement Officer role. He is a new member of Main Street. He attended a civilian response to active shooter training and will be hosting some presentations for various businesses and entities. With what has been going on around the Country this is timely.
We had to cancel Teen Night for November due to the gym floor being resurfaced. October’s Teen Night was well attended and we have high hopes for the December Teen Night.
School Resource Officer Jackson is doing excellent work at the high school. He is also filling in at the middle school during Officer Funk’s absence. We anticipate a January return to work for Off. Funk.
Comm. Peters inquired into case closure rates.
Chief Allen said they have improved from prior years, which is encouraging.
Capt. Toussaint added the case closure rate for property crime has improved by 34% year to date. Violent crime has improved by 67%.
Comm. Peters asked how the new prosecutor is doing.
It was reported she is doing well. There is a high case load and court is a busy place. The demands on that office have increased. There have been discussions with the City Attorney and the City Manager regarding additional staff to help with the workload. It is needed. We are doing the best we can with the staff we have and have supplemented that office with our Parking Enforcement Officer spending a significant amount of time assisting with filing, copying discovery and data entry or doing subpoenas. From my perspective, we don’t have any other choice or victims suffer. I don’t want to lose court cases due to technicalities for not having discovery or witnesses to testify.
We are amazed at the behind the scenes work of the support staff getting the work done with the volume they have and few resources. This is really attributed to the dedicated Ms. Alley and Ms. Routhier. We are fortunate to have them. This is funded through the legal budget but we are working closely with them.
Comm. Lindsay asked about the newest officer and her status.
Officer Arrajj is still in field training and a couple of weeks out from final review.
2. Administration. Dep. Chief Dumas reported that we are 41% through the fiscal year and are in relatively good shape. The accounts clerk does a projection every pay period and there are a couple of lines we are watching. One trouble line is vehicle maintenance. We are 88% spent in that line. We used some of the funds to cover deductibles for accidents. Even if that gets paid by other insurance, the funds go back to the city revenue, not back to that line.
Vehicle supplies are 98% spent. A significant amount of that is encumbered spending on tires. That cost goes up every year and this year it was higher than anticipated.
How are the front line vehicles doing?
The new SUV cruiser is on the road. It looks good and the taller officers appreciate it. We are nursing car 9 along. It has a significant oil leak. It will be replaced when the second SUV is delivered. Otherwise, we are in good shape.
The dispatch budget over time line is over-expended due to covering the long-term staffing shortages experienced over the previous 18 months. The projection looks like we will still be okay in the overall budget.
The JAG grant was approved and designated to put toward replacing the in-car cruiser cameras. There is $20,264.00 to put toward this project. The total cost roughly is $85,000.00.
Looking to the future, in terms of body cameras, we are waiting for the state to come to a decision on how they will legislate the body cameras. We need to figure out the freedom of information act which is going to be a huge burden on municipalities. We will be looking for a cruiser camera that can integrate with the body cameras. The total cost to do both at today’s prices is projected at $130,000. We are exploring some different funding sources, such as a public safety grant from Lowe’s.
We are starting work on the FY17 budget. The CIP data base is open for data entry. We will be asking for continued funding for the cruiser replacement plan; continuing the funding for replacing the mobile radios; and the cruiser cameras.
We had sought out a couple of grants that we were not selected for; a $435,000 Homeland Security grant to upgrade the Communications Center. We also were not selected for a $105,000 Coverdale grant for training for our evidence team. We got some good feedback on how we can improve our application and we will try again when that grant opens next year.
We washed out both officer candidates and have no others in the pipeline. We are starting a process for January and looking for certified officers. Not all those certified would meet our standards. We will not compromise and that sometimes leaves us short.
Ms. Martuscello is doing a tremendous job with Bridging the Gaps. She is working on implementation of a comprehensive substance abuse program for youth. She is also working on increasing the youth to youth team at the middle school. We attended a meeting for a Town Hall series looking to implement a substance abuse how to talk to your kids to get the word and education piece out there regarding the opioid epidemic in the state. Education is the platform where you get the biggest bang for the dollar. The preventative enforcement portion is just a small fraction toward taking a hold of this epidemic.
Comm. Lindsay asked about body cameras.
Chief Allen said while he was at the FBINAA national trainer as well as the IACP there was a lot of discussion about implementation of body cameras. There are a lot of lessons learned from other agencies. NH has some issues to resolve in terms of the right to know requests for video footage. The amount of time we need to maintain the footage on the back and as well as privacy issues that are being debated at the legislature. There is a study committee looking at that issue now. Whether anything is adopted is still to be seen, but that is a big piece that we can’t ignore. I don’t want to rush a purchase in the coming fiscal year without these issues being resolved.
Comm. Lindsay asked those states that have implemented body cameras have they resolved those issues.
Chief Allen said they have not and they are struggling because they rushed into implementation without evaluating the unintended consequences. We will benefit by waiting. There are a few departments in the state that have implemented them but none the size of Rochester. There have been discussions at the NH Chief’s level and with the legislature is studying guidelines so it will be worked out in the next year. I am reluctant to pull the trigger so to speak until the landscape has been vetted.
Comm. Lindsay said the number of vendors out there is there much difference between companies.
Chief Allen said there are a few leaders in the industry. What is separating them is on the back end, the software and storage. That involves evidence technicians, information technologies and legal staff for policy development.
Comm. Lindsay asked if the cameras will film front and back.
Chief Allen said the in car triggered events with the body cameras most agencies have the camera on the entire time the officer is on shift. Some don’t do it that way. The most recent recommendations coming from IACP and legal folks with guidance is to keep them on all the time. But there are privacy issues associated with taping a confidential informant, a sensitive conversation with a juvenile or domestic violence victim, those are all things to be considered as they tie to discovery requests or right to know requests where a video has to be reviewed and redacted. It’s a time-consuming process to go through that requires staff to potentially do that review. Even if the software has the capability, the review still has to happen simply for the human element.
Comm. Lindsay said if you don’t have it on all the time you are subjecting yourself to the question of the officers turning it on or off when they want to and whether you are seeing the whole picture or not.
Chief Allen said that’s where policy comes into play. A solid policy and training for officers that cover those areas.
Comm. Peters asked the average cost of one of the cameras.
Chief Allen said it varies. The camera could be nothing. It’s the back end, the storage and all of that. You could evaluate “the cloud” storage which may be cheaper up front capital costs, but more expensive over the long term to keep storing. You also have to factor in the loss of control having all that data out there in the cloud. What if you change vendors? Those things are being discussed. The other option is to locally store all that data and video on your own servers. Many are doing that as well. That has more significant up front capital costs, but it eliminates the hosted storage. It’s a complicated issue and it will require thorough analysis and planning before we make the jump and this legislative piece is an important piece.
Comm. Peters asked in the next year, what are we looking at.
Chief Allen said our first priority is the in-car cameras. As we’ve reported the ones we have are more than ten years old and no longer supported. We got our monies worth from them. This is something we will put in this year’s CIP. We hope to add body cameras on after so we want an in-car system that has that ability.
Comm. Levesque asked on the human factor, how the officers feel wearing it.
Chief Allen said it’s mixed. Some officers will have anxiety over the change to what they are used to. The prevailing feedback is that officers are seeing the value and benefits once they are in use. That’s the kind of process where you involve officers in the development of the policy and process up to its implementation. They can see the value from the start of the process and that is what we are planning to do moving forward.
How are the tablets working?
The tablets are working very well. Having the IT position vacant has given us some challenges but the technology is superior and long-term savings are projected to be significant.
C. Other.
1. Opiate overdose. Comm. Lindsay said that WMUR had some data on overdoses in the state in 2015 and were looking at the major contributors for comparison.
For example, to date the state has reported 295 overdoses and 183 deaths. 62% of the overdoses involved fentanyl. Of the 183 deaths, 74% involved fentanyl alone. Fentanyl with heroin accounted for only 17% of the deaths, and fentanyl plus another drug was only 9%.
What I found interesting and was missed in the data is heroin alone is only contributed to 7% of the overdoses; a total of 21 year-to-date. The Governor is looking at the fentanyl situations and what we can do about it. People have a false sense prescription drugs leads to heroin, but the heroin leads to fentanyl. This drug is used mainly in the hospital. It’s important to realize that is where the fentanyl is coming from. Talking with doctors, it’s a synthetic drug that is easily manufactured with chemicals and there are no controls. Putting heroin into a different line of thinking; heroin is playing a part, but the fentanyl is a killer.
Chief Allen said that is interesting. It’s not a heroin epidemic. It’s an opioid epidemic. Fentanyl is more potent than heroin. Someone buying illicit drugs they don’t know what they are getting. Many addicts think they are taking heroin but they are actually taking fentanyl. We are seeing a higher demand for Narcan due to the potency. There are times where victims are being given 4–5 doses of the Narcan to bring them back. This illustrates the power of these drugs.
6. CORRESPONDENCE:
Correspondence for the month included: Off. Livingstone is thanked by a victim for his assistance in helping to file a report for the Victim’s Compensation Fund maintained through the State of NH. Dep. Chief Dumas is thanked Andrew Georgevits of the Trump campaign for professional assistance during Mr. Trump’s visit to the City. Off. Cilley is thanked by a victim of domestic violence for his professional and caring response to a call for service.
7. INFORMATION:
A. Information Other; enclosed with Agenda. No discussion.
1. The Christmas tree lighting is this Friday night. We will be shutting down one lane of traffic in the square starting at 5:00 P.M. The Christmas parade is on Sunday at 3:00 P.M. and roads will be closed on the parade route.
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: (Pursuant to: RSA 91-A:3)
Commissioner Peters MOVED to enter a nonpublic session at 8:32 P.M. pursuant to RSA 91-A: 3, paragraph II, section A (personnel) and section E (legal.) SECOND by Comm. Lindsay. The motion PASSED by roll call vote 3 – 0 with Commissioner Peters, Commissioner Lindsay and Comm. Levesque voting in the affirmative. Two minute recess. The non-public session closed at 9:05 P.M. on a MOTION by Comm. Peters, SECOND by Comm. Levesque and PASSED unanimously.
9. MISCELLANEOUS:
Comm. Peters MOVED to award merit increases on the respective anniversary dates to Sgt. Michael Brinkman (2.1); Off. John Harding (3.3%); Off. Jamey Balint (4.0%); Off. Dominique Murphy (2.85%); Off. Robert Frechette (3.95%). The motion was SECONDED by Comm. Lindsay and PASSED unanimously.
9. ADJOURNMENT:
Comm. Peters MOVED to adjourn. SECOND by Comm. Lindsay at 9:07 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted
Rebecca J. Warburton
Secretary