The Town Council began their meeting with the Police Department’s Annual Report, presented by Chief of Police Bill Hart.
At the end of every year the department goes through a process to check and see where they stand as an agency according to Chief Hart. The annual report is then given to the Town Manager and is available online for the public to see as well. Chief Hart believes that transparency helps to strengthening the bond of trust between the community and the police department.
The LPD was dispatched to over 24,000 incidents last year, 1100 accidents, and about 800 arrests. There were about 7400 motor vehicle encounters total in the year of 2017. Chief Hart also recognized that sometimes drivers are unaware of the rules of the road for that particular road and the police take a “educate first, enforce second” type of approach. There were also statistics presented in the internal cultural of the police department. There was only one grievance reported and a total of 11 complaints in 2017. Every complaint that goes through the door is investigated and heard by a supervisor. There was record of three internal affairs matters, five administrative reviews, and a total of four employee complaints.
“There are about 60 officers and about 14-15 civilian employees working 24 hours a day dealing with citizens who are a having a bad day,” Chief Hart explained. “To have that low number of complaints about the way our officers handle these highly emotional situations really speaks to the quality of the people you hire and who serve you.” There were 13 incidents where the police were forced to force to gain compliance and that number is extremely low. The number in New Hampshire is typically low, but these numbers are lower than New Hampshire standards.
The annual report also looked at whether or not there is an internal gender bias or external gender or race bias and how to be honest about that within the police department. One of the fundamental elements of the police department is that 64 hours per capita is required for training an officer each year. That is a little higher than usual in terms of the state’s expectations, but Chief Hart believes that the training is the fundamental key to building the foundation of trust with the community. If anyone has any questions or concerns they are encouraged to contact Chief Hart by either phone or email.