Police Commission Minutes
Rochester Police Commission
Rochester, NH 03867
Derek J. Peters, Chairman
Bruce E. Lindsay, Commissioner
Lucien G. Levesque, Commissioner
MINUTES OF THE POLICE COMMISSION MEETING
The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting in City Hall Council Chambers on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. Present at this meeting was Comm. Peters, Comm. Lindsay, Comm. Levesque, [Chief Allen 7:57 PM], Dep. Chief Toussaint, Capt. Thomas, Chaplain Lachapelle and Secretary Warburton as well as members of the Department, the public, 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. Chaplain Lachapelle led the opening prayer.
C. Roll Call. The clerk called the roll marking all Commission members present.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no comment from the public.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES:
A. August 3, 2016, regular meeting.
Comm. Lindsay MOVED to accept the minutes of the August 3, 2016 regular meeting as presented. SECOND by Comm. Levesque and PASSED unanimously.
4. OLD AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
No old business for discussion.
5. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Awards and Recognition
1. Lifesaving – Off. Kimbrough. Deputy Chief Paul Toussaint presented Patrol Officer Brandon Kimbrough with a Lifesaving Award. Earlier this year Off. Kimbrough responded to a call of an unresponsive person who was believed to be overdosing on drugs. On arrival Narcan was administered and the person was revived. Dep. Chief Toussaint said in his opinion the Lifesaving Award is the highest award we have. Our primary mission is to protect life and property, and Officer Kimbrough truly understands the meaning of this. This is Off. Kimbrough’s fifth Lifesaving Award, meaning on five occasions someone has been given a second chance at life. He joins just a few others in the Department with that many.
Off. Kimbrough’s wife, Stephanie, pinned a star on his uniform during the presentation. A star is placed on an officer’s ribbon bar on their uniform when they have received subsequent awards.
2. Twenty Year Service Recognition. Account Clerk Rhonda Young was presented with a plaque for 20 years of service with the department as the Accounting Clerk. She first started work with the City of Rochester in 1993 in another position before coming to the Police Department in 1996. Ms. Young is responsible for payroll, accounts payable and receivable, and ordering of supplies for the department. She also assists the department’s administration with preparing and managing grant applications. Dep. Chief Toussaint said “She does an exceptional job with deadlines and all the various reports that need to be filed to get these grants. She plays a critical role in all things in this department. Dep. Chief Toussaint also described Ms. Young as someone “who has a sunny disposition and always sees things on the bright side.” Comm. Lindsay presented Rhonda with a plaque for her service.
B. Accept Resignation/Retirement. Off. Paul Kusnierz has tendered his resignation.
Comm. Levesque MOVED to accept the resignation with regret and to have the clerk send a letter. SECOND by Comm. Lindsay and PASSED unanimously.
C. 2014-2016 Program Analysis Results: Discussion. Dep. Chief Toussaint said there is a strong correlation of property crime to drug use. If we identify the drug problem areas and saturate them with heavy motor vehicle enforcement making contact with people in these areas, it is effective.
Crime Analyst Katie Hoffman analyzed the years 20012-2014 and 2014-2016. This is basically a report card that shows that our strategy works for us as is shown during monthly comp stat reports. When we started this we reduced overall property crime 26%. Our closure rates are up; there are double-digit decreases in property crime.
Violent crime is up; however, arrest and case closure rates are up as well. We have been more efficient over the past two years. Our clearance rate is significantly higher than the national average across the board.
Our quality of life calls are up. Calls for suspicious people and disturbances are up. We see that as a positive because we are developing positive relationships with the community. They are calling and that is so critical. We have to credit the public for assisting us. They are the eyes and the ears and they are reporting things where in the past they may not have.
Traffic stops are the backbone. They are up 66% and arrests are up 52%. This is good work, contacting people. We are trying to show a small percent of the people commit the vast majority of the crime. Our strategy is paying off. We tweak and fine tune it but it is clear we are on to something.
Our crime analysis program is deploying resources in the most efficient manner and Katie Hoffman who we contract from Lexis Nexis does this work. We have more tech support and nationwide backing with them.
Comm. Levesque said our efforts in traffic and our outreach are two positive things that are helping the department and the community. Comm. Levesque commended the officers that take part in the outreach. It is not done because they are on duty. They attend when not on duty also and they should be commended for taking everything to heart in their community.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said it is so critical to our community – relationships and trust.
Comm. Lindsay said when we say we are doing community policing, we actually are. Politics jargon is used but we are showing the way we do it is successful. There are no distortions and we are showing the positive side of the work.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said I don’t consider traffic enforcement community policing. Motor Vehicle work is traditional policing. But park and walks, ward meetings, the months we have highlighted the outreach programs we do, all those things we ask them to do, is community policing.
Comm. Peters said engaging the public is opening doors. Being fully staffed gives us the ability to have two on the pedal bikes downtown, park and walks on weekends and other times during the day, is a positive impact in the community. I’ve been getting comments that citizens have never seen so many officers. It’s a great job by the Department and staff to ensure it works.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said he is proud of this agency and the direction we are going. They put their money where their mouth is and they are actively engaged in the community. It is an attitude shift in the past ten years that is unbelievable.
E. Monthly Reports
1). Operations. Capt. Thomas said that at the meeting last month Comm. Lindsay inquired about the hands-free law and enforcement. Since the law went into effect last July we have made 314 stops and issued 154 citations. Early we did a lot of warnings to educate people.
Capt. Thomas reported that every ward met in the month of August. Off. Seckendorf attended two of the meetings to review the role of the motor vehicle officers. Officer Powers gave a presentation on the LEAD program. Also discussed were crime trends and the comp stat report.
Staff attended the ribbon cutting for the new housing project named for Art Nickless. Officer Funk has been supplementing housing on the back shift and on weekends.
Our Honor Guard had quite the honor to present the colors at the Boston Red Sox game on August 29. Lt. Bossi set that up and he is also working on presenting at the Bruins in December.
The K9 was called out seven times. He also attended a fundraising event for the Working Dog Foundation.
Patrol continues to focus on drug interdiction deploying into areas the crime analyst targets. There were 37 arrests from traffic stops, 10 of those for DWI. Property crime has been trending down the past couple of months.
Comm. Peters said there was a good arrest last week that allowed us to close quite a few of the break-ins that have been happening.
On the support side, 15 new cases were sent up from patrol. They have 90 active cases. There were six call outs this period, the highest in any one month for the whole year to date. Of those call outs there were three overdose calls, a robbery of the shell station, a search warrant to recover stolen property and a serious assault case where an arrest has been made.
Off. Miehle attended numerous meetings this month. He is also active with the code compliance task force. They have been working on illegal dumping in the city and a concern of commercial truck parking. The face book page has reached 14,000 likes and averages between 3,000 and 10,000 hits per month.
Comm. Peters asked how we are doing with the Support case load. I don’t want to overburden them.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said that the support sergeant closely watches the assignments. He has to triage cases that get assigned not only from the seriousness but also the solvability. There are peaks and valleys. Once we are up to full staff we can look at our deployment of resources as we have discussed in the past.
Comm. Lindsay asked about the time factor for various cases.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said the support side is divided by specialty. They can do all but we have two assigned to property crimes, two assigned to crimes against people and a couple to vice crimes. There is a lot of management based on case type and then who has less on their plate.
2.) Administration. Dep. Chief Toussaint reported that our camera vendor spent three days providing training on the new systems. We put as many officers as we could through the sessions. We have a couple more cars to outfit and we are working with the radio vendor to complete that. The remaining three will be in the new cruisers once we take delivery.
Ford of Londonderry was awarded the cruiser bid. We expect delivery in late October. We took delivery of two new motorcycles under the motorcycle lease program.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said that last month we updated the Commission on the e-ticketing system that allowed us to apply for 5 scanners and printers. We were notified there is enough funding to give us five more, for a total of ten for the front line cars. We will not put one in the supervisor’s vehicle because we have to show that it is used at least half of the time for motor vehicle enforcement and we can’t show that.
Comm. Peters asked what the cost is to the Department.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said there is a 25% soft match, or $2,250.00. We will meet this through the installation costs and training. We are not asking for any additional funding from Council. We will take this from the existing budget.
Dep. Chief Toussaint noted that he and Chief Allen met with the finance office and MIS on the cruiser MDT situation. Our old ruggedized PC’s were not only obsolete, they were not CJIS compliant. We replaced them with tablets at a tenth of the cost. We thought it was a worthwhile risk. However, the tablets are failing at a rapid rate. They couldn’t handle the climate and the batteries were exploding in the heat. We have several down at this point. We have earmarked our JAG grant money to the project but it will only pay for about five units. We are working with MIS to see if they can fund some from their budget.
Comm. Peters asked if we would go with Panasonic tough books again.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said we currently have a trial period of the Patrol PC; and it is getting good reviews. It is also less expensive than the Panasonic.
Comm. Peters asked if we would have to go out to bid.
Dep. Chief Toussaint replied that is unknown at this time. We may qualify for a sole source vendor.
UNH Police Department is rolling out a program in Strafford County where we can get some free data storage. They have sent along a contract and a non-disclosure agreement. The program is called SC-Net.
We were able to put several members of the Department through the LEAD training at no cost, as the company is working to bring the program to New Hampshire. We will roll the program out this year. It is planned for grades 3, 6 and 9; as well as at St. Elizabeth Seton. The elementary school is dependent on getting the COPS Officer. Early intervention is critical to fighting the drug problem and we are encouraged this will be a successful program.
We hosted a training program for compassion fatigue basically for officers to learn the science of drug addiction. What are the triggers; what to say, what not to say, how to direct people to help, how to deal with frustration on going to the same address and same people over and over. This also provides ways to work with families and other first responders.
The new recruits are doing well with the in-house program. They get to spend time with the various specialties like DV and Prosecution so they get a view of what the Department does before being assigned to a field training officer. Everything is positive so far.
Anticipating the resignation of Off. Kusnierz we held an agility test and oral boards. We will schedule time for the top candidates to meet with the Commission. They have polygraphs scheduled this week. We used to do this at the end of the background, but have found it is beneficial to do at the beginning rather than expend man hours on a background to have the candidate wash out at the polygraph.
E. Other.
1. Recovery Center Update: Comm. Lindsay commented on the update Chief Allen sent comparing year to date overdoses this year to last year; thirteen this year to six last year. If we didn’t have Narcan we’d really be in trouble with the fatal events.
No matter how good the program is there is always going to be that person out there that is such an addict you can’t turn them. The police can only do so much.
We have to understand that a person suffering from addiction may have made poor decisions to get there they are, but, they are still someone’s loved one. A daughter, a son, a mother or father; our officers are in tune with that. We say every month we won’t arrest our way out of this problem.
We will kick off the LEAD program in the schools this year and are looking for long-term dividends. We are working with Frisbie Hospital on the Recovery Center in a multi-faceted approach. We are looking for an October 1 opening. Frisbie has hired the coordinator. We were able to participate in the interviews and have input as to where we want to see this. The coordinator will have free reign on the programs she wants to take on.
2. Patrols for Speeding. Comm. Lindsay stated he received a call from a family on Chestnut Hill Road concerned with speeding. It seems with the new mall there is an increase in traffic and exceeding the speed limit. Given the design of the road, as residents are slowing to enter driveways they are encountering people being rude, disrespectful and passing on solid lines. Residents are looking for some additional patrols and possibly the speed trailer.
Dep. Chief Toussaint said we do get frequent requests for the speed trailer. We will put Chestnut Hill Road in the queue. The units are currently out on Brock Street and on Hemlock Street.
How long do we leave a unit out in one area?
Dep. Chief Toussaint said we get a good idea of the issues if we leave it for a few days, some weekdays and weekends it tells us if there's a problem and what time of day. Once we get a good snapshot we can deploy the resources there. We’ve had recent concerns for Whitehouse Road. There is a lot of traffic during peak commute times. Residents say the traffic is “flying.”
6. CORRESPONDENCE:
Correspondence for the month included: Off. Powers is recognized by a citizen for his assisting the occupants of a disabled vehicle. Det. Mangum is thanked for his time and compassion speaking with a family about addiction. Lt. Gould and Off. Danie are thanked by the Cadet Academy for serving as staff members. Capt. Boudreau is thanked by Atty. Monzione for his assist in obtaining copies of surveillance video from an accident. Ian Watt thanks the Department for his experience as an intern. Off. Harding was thanked for how he handled a traffic stop.
Det. Livingstone is thanked by Catholic Charities for his contributions to a recent forum. Chief Ducharme in Rollinsford thanks Det. Rousseau for conducting a pre-employment polygraph.
7. INFORMATION:
A. Information Other; enclosed with Agenda. No discussion.
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: (Pursuant to: RSA 91-A:3)
Commissioner Levesque MOVED to enter a nonpublic session at 7:57 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 Comm. Levesque, Comm. Lindsay and Comm. Peters all voting in the affirmative. A five-minute recess was called. The non-public session closed at 9:00 P.M. on a MOTION by Comm. Peters, SECOND by Comm. Lindsay and PASSED unanimously.
10. ADJOURNMENT:
Comm. Peters MOVED to adjourn. SECOND by Comm. Lindsay at 9:01 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted
Rebecca J. Warburton
Secretary