City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Commission, 17 Jan 2023

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1.17.2023 Police Commission

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Good evening, everybody and welcome to the january meeting of the portsmouth.

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Police commission, I would like to call the meeting to order.

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And request, commissioner sure to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please.

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Thank you and may I get a motion to accept the meeting. The minutes of the 2002 meetings held on.

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November 29th so moved second, all in favor, aye and now we'll move into public comment.

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Anybody here would like to address the commission public comment.

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Not seeing anyone we'll close the public comment period.

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On to new business for the police commission- and we, since this is the first meeting of the year, we.

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Will uh address appointments? We have two officer: appointments for the commission, a chair and a.

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Clerk and so first we make a nomination for chair. I nominate uh commissioner shaheen as chair. Second.

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Thank you both and I I've served as chair now for over a year. I've appreciated the opportunity.

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To con to serve in this capacity and I'm happy to accept the nomination and continue serving.

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Make it official on a roll call vote just to be clear, commissioner, sure.

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Aye, commissioner coyle, yes and I vote yes also.

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And I will move to appoint commissioner sure to remain on as clerk, and I second that and.

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Actually, I should clarify recording clerk record straight so on a roll call vote. Commissioner,.

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Coyle, yes, I vote yes and commissioner sure yes, great, thank you for serving in that capacity.

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And now we have to officially select one of the three of us to represent uh the commission on a.

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City ethics committee, should it ever need to be appointed in the coming year and the way we have.

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Historically done, this is by drawing straw, so there's no perception of impropriety and.

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Neutrality in terms of who gets to serve on the ethics committee, so I want to pass this box down.

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Yeah, you picked well wait. What are we picking the name? The names are.

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In there, okay gotcha, I thought we were each one of us blame the deputy.

B

Congratulations chairman aye [laughter]. I had a feeling I was going to have the honor. Hopefully.

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It will not be needed and there will be no need to convene the ethics committee in the.

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Coming year, but should there be I we appreciate your glee at your house, the honored to serve. I.

C

Will test you the fact that you did predict that you would be this and I will adjust to.

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The fact that my name was the one you drew, let's just make sure it wasn't all my name in that box.

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Just so everybody, yes, nope you're, clear, okay, just want to make sure let the record show.

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All right moving on to the facilities update and why don't we start with.

D

Two minutes. Oh oh! That's right! My my apologies, because this is such a fun topic that I'm so.

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Excited to be celebrating and and updating the community about so can I get a request to suspend.

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The agenda items and move up item number one: the comfort program, dog chief's report. Second, all in.

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Favor aye, sorry to those who were waiting for us to do that, while I'm going on about other things.

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So, chief, take it away. So, as we'd stated before, the department had looked into getting a comfort dog.

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And recently we have gone through the process and of lieutenant nick young nick small come up to the.

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Podium over here and he could explain a comfort dog program and our selection of our candidate.

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So, as a commissioner as well aware, we've been on this process for well for me over.

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A year now, we've been trying to get this program off off the ground and.

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um I'm excited to announce that we finally got the comfort dog handler appointed. We had interviews.

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The other week and through that interview process, we've selected officer mike mccauley as a comfort.

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Dog handler he's got some talking points, so I'm kind of at this point pushing the program over.

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To him, since he's going to be the kind of the subject matter expert in that in this process,.

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So I'll invite mike up- and you can talk a little bit more about what he's going to be doing the.

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Next, several months before, we actually take possession of the comfort dog and get going.

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On well as you approach the podium, I just want to thank you, because I know how much this time.

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Effort and commitment on your part has gone into making this happen, and I think it will be a huge.

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Asset to the community, so thank you for all you've done to get us to this place. Great. Thank you. Bye.

F

Hello, um I'm officer mike nicoli with portsmouth police, obviously.

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um And I just wanted to touch base and kind of begin by thanking lieutenant small for all this.

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His hard work and developing this program and allowing me to to work in this position.

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And and develop it and grow from there, so I wrote up a quick statement. I just want to.

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Kind of read you guys and then answer questions uh if needed or if asked so, the portsmouth police.

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Has launched a new program in conjunction with hero, pups, it's aimed at officer wellness and.

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Victim support, calling it the police, comfort, canine program, a trained comfort, dog and.

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Their handler or a precious asset to the port police department, unlike typical police canines,.

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Used to locate drugs or track suspects, police departments use these dogs to ease the trauma.

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For individuals impacted by violence, tragedy or traumatic events, these dogs can maintain and.

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Increase department, morale for officers and their families that are facing difficulties.

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In addition, they visit places like schools, nursing homes, hospitals and they can attend community.

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Events or be called upon whenever there's need hero pups. The organization we partnered with is.

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Based out of exeter new hampshire, they have a remarkable history of dedicated work with not.

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Only police departments, but also first responders and veterans hero hero, pups works primarily with.

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Shelter and rescue dogs and our comfort canine is currently being evaluated for temperament.

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Health and will be chosen in the next coming weeks right now, they're about 11 weeks old hero. Pups is.

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A new hampshire-based non-profit organization that places dogs with and first responders.

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Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety and other service, challenging connections.

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Hero pops is staffed by volunteers who want to help a shelter or rescue pup while being able.

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To locate a local hero, so I joined the department in september of 2021 and I've been chosen as the.

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Comfort canine handler I transferred to portsmouth from massachusetts where I previously worked as a.

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Police officer and prior to working as a police officer, I worked as a paramedic in the city of.

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Springfield for six years and the police comfort canines being funded through a donation through.

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Firstnet, with no expense to the the department or the city and firstnet is a national. It's a.

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Nationwide network dedicated to public safety and helps law enforcement, fire and ems do their.

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Job effectively I'll begin training with the dog once the dog is selected and the entire department.

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Is is pretty excited to have a new comfort canine running around the station. [music] Thank you very.

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Much officer nicoli and again I just want to thank lieutenant small for getting us to this point and.

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Making this program possible, if I can just say a couple things and then ask a question: I mean first.

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It's no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a tremendous asset. I, as many people have heard me.

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Say before our family has a service dog who's, a medic alert dog trained to detect changes in.

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My daughter's blood sugars, she lives with type 1 diabetes and I can say, firsthand the impact.

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That her dog has had on people when she's out in public. She took the dog through school. All.

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The way through portsmouth high school for all four years and then through college, and it just.

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Having the dog's presence in a classroom around in an environment where you're not often accustomed.

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To seeing dogs, it's made a huge, huge difference, so I'm so excited that portsmouth is going to benefit.

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In a similar way, with this comfort dog program, can you say more about and some of these things.

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I'm asking I have a sense of what the answers are, but I think it'd be helpful for other people to.

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Hear I presume we don't get to name the dog, the community doesn't get to name the dog, it will.

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Come with a name, so the dog is being named by the police department, because we're aiming at officer.

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Wellness, so what we did is I sent out an email a little while ago, with some pictures of very.

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Adorable puppies um and just open to suggestions, we've had a couple officers dispatchers and some.

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Of our admin staff reach out and say: hey what about these names? We're not sure if we're getting.

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A male or female dog, yet so we have a list right now, I'm just kind of running a list of of the dogs.

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Names that people have suggested some are kind of similar or symbolize portsmouth such as harbor and.

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Prescott and then some are just more traditional dog names that are also adorable, so once we know.

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If we're getting a male or female and we actually have um the puppy that is going to be portsmouth.

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We're going to put it out to the department to do a survey say which, which dog name is the most.

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Appropriate for us, what do we want to name it? I love this idea, I'm glad we actually have a say in.

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Getting to to name the doc, our our dog came with a name, and we got really lucky because our dog had.

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A great name, but there were some not so fun games. You say the name, a lot right, exactly you're gonna.

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Live with it, yes, exactly right, um and you have a sense of the timing in terms of when the dog will.

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Arrive and be ready so the time so it's it depends right. So in the next they're 11 weeks. Right now,.

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Usually, the training with hero pups starts when they're, 12 or so weeks, depending on temperament.

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And and all those things so once our dog is selected, I'm going to be working with europups.

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um We have to iron out a schedule in certain training aspects with the dog, so historically.

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This process has taken upwards of 10 months until the dog is completely transferred, as they call it.

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To the police department during those 10 months, it's not like no one's going to see the dog.

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um Hero pups will come with me and the dog to the police station to different events um to socialize.

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The dog to see what it's all about and to do, training with it there's an aspect where we'll go.

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Into local businesses we'll go downtown, we'll walk around uh sometimes if we do go downtown or into.

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Local businesses, we, I won't be wearing a uniform just because we want to focus on training and a.

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Lot of attention comes to a cute puppy running around, and sometimes we will so. The dog will.

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Still be active and we have a lot of plans since it's the 400th year of portsmouth we're going to.

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Incorporate some of those trainings and meet and greet with the dog, so the dog can come with hero.

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Pups and with myself to go out there, but for the first 10 months, hero pups will be with me and the.

F

Dog training them, I see for her, have just a fun anecdote if you'll indulge me briefly, the one of.

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The dogs that was in the same cohort as our dog in the in training, the family that was being placed.

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With the dog came into the training one morning and said I don't I don't know what's going on, but.

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I I left the room and I went to the bathroom and I came out and the dog had stripped all the.

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Sheets off the bed and it turned out that the dog had been trained by an inmate in a correctional.

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Facility and the inmate had trained the dog on how to strip the sheets, and so it heard.

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This particular command right and every time it heard that word it would strip the sheets. So it's.

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Amazing what these socks can do that way the dog could make the bed yes exactly exactly and we'd.

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All be happy right, all right, I'll, stop! Okay, sure sure. Do you have any questions? uh One question.

G

Do you have any sense of what type of dog it will be? Yes, so the out of the dogs right now there are.

F

Four purebred black labs available for us three of those are female. One of them is.

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Male so they're all purebred um they'll be akc, certified and mom and dad dogs are in.

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Really good health they're actually already back with their owners. They were also rescues.

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um Very good temperamented dogs, but they will be he or she will be a black lab.

C

Thank you, of course. No, that's great um good luck! Wonderful! Thank you. Part of the naming.

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Contest everybody remember the black lab, yes, yeah there'll be more pictures to follow. Yes,.

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Any other questions, thank you for being here tonight for all your work. Thank you. Thank you.

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Guys for reminding me on the motion to suspend all right so we'll go back to the regular agenda.

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And now we'll turn to the facilities update, beginning with uh restoration updates on the.

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Current facility, where it's currently at is we just finished up the court office uh this week.

D

Court office will be moving back into their space and starting next week, we'll be moving.

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On to dispatch, which should hopefully be the last step in our full remediation and when you're in.

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Dispatch where, where are dispatch folks going to be so, we have a redundancy, our backup dispatch at.

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Fire station two and our dispatch channel will be moved there during the construction process.

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Great any other questions on the restoration update. How long do you anticipate they'll be.

C

At fire station too they're, uh uh as far as the mediation goes, we think that should move.

D

Fairly quickly, probably within a couple of weeks and then depending on how much.

D

Rebuild has to take place after that, we'll get a better timeline on how long.

D

We're hoping a month or two most at the most more to towards the month, the six weeks, but.

D

That'll depend on what we find. Can you say more about uh the so because I know we have.

A

Some training of dispatchers underway now, how will that be impacted by being at a different location.

D

So in our redundant dispatch center we have the same setup that we have in dispatch so.

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Although in our dispatch on that we have four consoles, we only have three out there.

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But only two people dispatch at a time, so the new trainees will have a have a setup.

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Station, where they'll continue to work and we're going to make it work as far.

D

As training the new stuff and and dispatching at the same time out there, okay, okay, make do.

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Questions on that, okay, thanks steve now uh next up, which I think is an exciting.

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Update of making good progress is the latest on the public safety facility.

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Planning and commissioner coyle can I turn it to you to give a brief update sure so.

C

um We recently received proposals from two design, build firms and so we're in the process.

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Of evaluating those and they came in almost identical in budget, so um that is, you know it.

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Gives us some options and we're excited to explore those so great questions for commissioner coyle.

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Now latest update on community priorities- and I know the the first question really is cat.

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Rms and where we are late at the moment with this so where we are with the cat, rms is it's.

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In the final stages to be go up to the city attorney's office, to sign off on the.

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Contract and once that is finalized, we will be placing our order with with a selected company.

A

So do we have a sense of how long it will take to finalize the contract.

H

I don't [laughter] know because once it gets up so the city attorney's office.

D

I don't know it's a it's a big contract, so we're also looking for like different.

H

Kinds of language in there like this, has to be completed by this waypoint. This.

H

Waypoint we had hoped to have like a court module we haven't had we don't have one yet.

H

So we're making sure that by a specific date they have the ability to share information.

H

With whatever we choose- and things like that, and that's going to have to be the legal departments.

H

Or beach and then once the contract's in place, how quickly can the work get underway.

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I think what's the contract sign will be immediately: okay, yeah and they- and, as far.

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As we know, the vendor is prepared to quickly once the contracts yeah either one yeah, okay,.

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Any questions on that particular topic.

A

No okay, any other particular issues relative to community priorities. We want to highlight yes.

G

um I'm I'm a member of the communications subcommittee of the statewide 988 coalition.

G

We had a meeting yesterday um and uh it's pretty clear that the uh the lack of clarity in terms.

G

Of a relationship between rapid response and 988 uh is out there uh at the statewide level.

G

And it's not just something: uh portsmouth has struggled with. There is a beacon health who.

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Runs the rapid response uh uh piece of of of it is um they? Have a person now designated to deal with.

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Seacoast communities, so I briefly mentioned this: the chief I plan to put together a meeting with.

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uh The relevant people at portsmouth pd with the relevant people with seacoast mental health.

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And that person to see if we can and perhaps uh the head of dispatch uh here uh to see if we can.

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All get on the same page, and everybody knows what everybody else is doing, um so that story continues.

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And we will, we just did get an update on more in-depth update on how the preliminary rollout.

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Of the um emergency response has been going in partnership with seacoast mental health and at.

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That point, which was earlier in the fall, we agreed collectively that we would regroup toward the end.

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Of this first quarter to get a new update on how things have been going, so we will follow.

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Up on that and and hear from the team on our side and the team on at seacoast mental health.

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Any other points or questions on that front. I just assume we'll get some more data analysis of.

C

What you know number of cases, if we're ramping up those all that at that meeting? Yes great, exactly.

A

Okay, anything else on the community priorities for tonight.

A

All right, chief, turning it over to your part of the agenda.

D

All right, we'll start with donations and grants and we'll need a vote by the commission to accept.

D

They have an unsolicited donation, the amount of 2500 from portsmouth residents, paul gormley.

D

And kimmy gucci uh donated for the police department to be used at our discretion.

G

I removed that uh we accept the 2500 donation from paul warmly and kimmy eguchi for the portsmouth.

G

Police department and that we forwarded to the city council for their action. Second,.

A

All in favor aye aye um chief, can I just ask on grants of this nature. uh What historically.

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Has been because I don't normally, you don't see, unsolicited donations that aren't tied necessarily.

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To something- and so I'm just curious when we report back on how the funds have been used so.

D

And this was an unsolicited donation so and when the when the donation came in, it said to be used.

D

At the discretion of the police department, which means we could use it for whatever we feel is.

D

A need to to use a donation towards so when that decision has been made as to how the money will be.

A

Used can we collectively agree that we'll report back on where it went? We can do that yeah just.

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So that we have do, people have a sense of where that is headed and there's not a question about.

A

Great second would be a vote for a grand amount of 11 883 from the bureau of justice.

D

Assistance for bulletproof vests this is to help replace vests, that we have on a rolling stock.

D

And we pay for 50 of the cars, I moved to accept a grant the amount of 11 883 from.

G

The bureau of justice assistance, patrick leahy bulletproof, vest partnership and.

G

That we forward it to the city council for their action. Second,.

A

Aye aye aye next will be letters of thank you that we've received from outside the police department.

D

A hampton resident, a hampton new hampshire resident, wrote to the department to thank patrol.

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Officer pete connor for assisting her with her disabled vehicle on the side of a very dangerous.

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Section of roadway in portsmouth officana waited with a woman to ensure her safety until.

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Aaa arrived on scene, she was incredibly thankful for his professional and assistance that morning.

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A letter to recognize it by the commission.

D

Second letter received was a letter from homeland security investigations, unit of new.

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England thinking the postal police department for a continued and valuable partnership in carrying.

D

Out hsa's mission to combat combat transnational criminal organizations curb human trafficking.

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And investigate financial crimes, our combined efforts have disrupted the flow of narcotics.

D

Across the region and rescued 106 106, victims of child exploitation and human trafficking,.

D

And then I will go on and before you move on, uh can you just share a little.

A

Bit more about the work you know to get a letter from homeland security.

A

Investigations, can you give folks a sense of how we've worked with them.

D

So we've worked with them in multiple uh joint investigations. As far as narcotics investigations.

D

uh Crimes against children and investigations. A lot of the eye cases work with I'm homeland.

D

Security and in their letter they spoke, I spoke about, um was 151 criminal arrests, 84 indictments.

D

49 convictions: the seizure of 500 pounds of illegal narcotics to include fentanyl heroin.

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Cocaine and methamphetamine 15 firearms and a total of 1.1 million in u.s currency and assets.

D

And thousands of images of child exploitation materials as a role of the partnership that we.

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Have worked jointly with them, they want to thank you in a proud of shared, approximately 2.9 million.

D

Dollars in seized assets with over 40 local agencies within the state ours included. So it's.

A

Worth noting, in particular, the internet crimes against children task force, which is a task force.

A

That supports the entire state, but is run through the portsmouth police department. uh So when you.

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Think about 106 victims of child exploitation and human trafficking. That's a direct result.

A

Of the work being done here and it's impacting the entire state, I I would also uh point out.

G

I'm the founder and chair of a uh masters and llm program, an international criminal law and justice.

G

At the law school, it's a program that focuses on transnational crime- uh and uh you know the message.

G

That is very valuable here is that transnational crime, human trafficking, child exploitation, uh the.

G

International flow of narcotics uh is an issue that affects the smallest of towns, be it in new.

G

Hampshire or around the country, and um I'm really pleased that the work portsmouth's done in that.

G

Regard uh just speaking on that uh portsmouth, we have a lot of hotels here and that's a.

D

Common place for human trafficking, even though people may not hear about it, we have it here.

D

And we deal with it and we investigate it. We've worked several cases with hsa and other agencies.

D

And trying to eliminate human trafficking here in portsmouth, thanks for sharing that.

D

This will be traffic stops and I'll pass it on to deputy maloney.

B

Thanks chief, we have a two months of data regards to our traffic enforcement.

B

In november a total of 529 traffic stops were completed. We had 36 reportable motor vehicle.

B

Crashes in the month of november, in december, we had 602 total motor vehicle stops with 40.

B

Reportable crashes in the month of december, the weather has been relatively mild for a winter. The.

B

Roadways have been relatively snow and ice free. It is worth noting um this week we'll be starting up.

B

Instituting our office of highway safety traffic enforcement grant program initiatives uh once.

B

Again, uh customarily in the past, what we've done is: we've we've somewhat delayed some of.

B

Those patrols towards the warmer months um we find out that uh we're putting a lot of patrols in the.

B

May june july, summer program, uh the summer summer time frame, although this year we're going to move.

B

Those patrols forward so we're actually having a grant funded traffic safety patrol starting.

B

This week and then going throughout the entire winter and that's as a result of number one.

B

Having the flexibility to do that, to start those patrols a little bit earlier and then number two.

B

um Helping to get ahead of and trying to curb what we've seen as a market increase in in.

B

Pair driving over the last couple of months and impaired driving uh crashes and impaired driving.

B

Crashes with injuries, so um those grant funded patrols will have already started.

B

To have uh started to have been worked and will continue those through september of uh this year.

B

uh When the, when the grant cycle concludes, can you share deputy chief in terms of the.

A

Time frame historically being anchored around the summer, that's presumably because there are.

A

More more cars, more risk right right, so um in the summer in in the winter, typically, our winters have.

B

Been more wintry uh making traffic enforcement a little bit more difficult, so we've we've kind.

B

Of put those off until the weather uh gets a little bit warmer. Combine the fact that the.

B

Roadways are still mostly clear and the fact that we're seeing an increase in impaired operation.

B

um We wanted to get those patrols out. It have a more consistently uh scheduled throughout.

B

The year and not to mention the fact, ports with 400 with this summer, with the amount.

B

Of events and other activities going on, um we still need to have the bandwidth to be able to.

B

Support the patrols, so we don't want patrols to go unfilled because we're so busy in june july.

B

And august dealing with other things in the city, so I think this is a good approach that captain.

B

Cummings has taken to uh to get these patrols started earlier this year. Commissioner, sure.

A

Thank you and, and you did say obviously, there's been an increase in impaired driving. We've been.

A

Noting this over the last many months with some tragic fatalities in november.

A

And december anything else specific you can see in the data other than it's it's worse.

A

It's getting worse yeah, I would certainly say, um october and november, were particularly bad months.

B

um Looking at uh december december was better than- uh and I say better in a sense of less.

B

Crashes with uh less injuries, although I won't say it was necessarily better with impaired.

B

Driving arrests, we're still seeing an alarming trend and still a consistent amount, but with.

B

Our partnership with new hampshire state police, raising awareness campaign um to spread the word.

B

About impaired driving, we have seen a little bit of a downtick, thankfully, in december, but october.

B

And november were particularly bad months, so we're going to do our product to hopefully.

B

Have that trend continue for the rest of the winter? Thank you just to pick up on that. What.

G

What is the nature of the conversations if any, that the police department has an ongoing.

G

Basis with bars and restaurants in portsmouth, as we see this increase in impaired driving.

D

I think that's something that we could probably get better at in conversations we've had we used.

D

To have a downtown business association where we meet monthly, a quarterly with the businesses, but.

D

I think moving forward, I've spoken with uh the state liquor commission to try and go out there.

D

And and speak with the businesses and emphasize the importance of not over serving people and.

D

Addressing people that may look impaired sooner uh than allowing them to just leave, so those are.

D

Some of the things moving forward we will look to uh do it is the relationship with the is.

G

There is there a downtown business association or is. Is that a kind of was that an informal.

G

At one time it was a official group, but I think over time it's kind of dissipated there weren't.

D

Especially, I think, probably through covet it really disbanded, but something that we're.

D

Going to look to try to start back up great, I would imagine one of the other challenges.

A

In the hospitality industry is, there's been such staff turnover that keeping the folks you.

A

Have trained on what to look for and and it's it's not an easy thing to necessarily identify.

A

um It is by the time, it's obvious, to identify it's too late right, so trying to figure out how.

A

You uh train folks in this industry, especially given the turnover, so I'm I'm grateful to hear.

A

Chief that the department's committed to doing more and to your point, maybe there's between.

A

The rotary clubs and the chamber- maybe there are other channels we can engage- to figure out how to.

A

On a more consistent basis, be reaching out other questions on that. Okay. On to the financial report,.

H

um Excuse me: have we just completed the 50 mark um and we're still tracking about five percent below.

H

That particular cap, um however, despite that good news, um the last time I at our meeting I mentioned.

H

That um we were seeing a significant uptick in overtime coverage um for patrol and dispatch. It.

H

Continued through december um and again we're still having problems with long-term, injured.

H

Status, long-term military deployments and and whatnot, and between patrol and dispatch it's car.

H

It's kind of like a 100 year, staffing storm and we can't seem to work our way out of it.

H

um Our overtime is 75 expended at the 50 mark. um Yes, we have salary savings, but they're.

H

Dwindling um so we're gonna have to kind of keep an eye on that um in terms of grants.

H

um Icac is seeking additional funding. Our funding this year uh went down a little bit with the.

H

Federal government so he's looking for the state to hopefully uh supplement some of that reduction.

H

um We do continue to look for new grants based on what we're doing at the police department.

H

And then the strategic plan we're still working on and then that's it um and can we just go back to a.

A

Couple of things you raised, and so you mentioned 75 expended in the overtime area of the budget.

A

Right, given that we're only at the 50 mark and just for folks at home, who may not know, we are.

A

Managing staffing shortage and dispatch, which has been really challenging significant and.

A

We will continue to work hard to manage it, but we are having to rely right now on.

A

um The rockingham county dispatch for overnight hours, because we don't have enough dispatchers.

A

It's a huge problem, not just in portsmouth across the whole state and frankly, far beyond, given.

A

Staffing shortages everywhere, but this is part of what's contributing to the overtime issue.

A

um Same obviously, is true of patrol, although not as extreme, uh in terms of the shortage.

A

Questions: okay, go ahead, certainly go ahead.

G

um Do you have any sense yet whether the uh the federal infrastructure bill that.

G

Was passed last year is going to present any opportunities for local police departments.

H

I'm not aware yet no, no, it usually comes to the state, though I mean usually comes to the city and.

H

Then it gets dispersed through the city. I do think to your point, though, commissioner, showed that.

A

um For for icac in particular, there are gopher funds and others that the state has available. That.

A

We, which radically should be qualified which, which we've gotten we've gotten yeah 700 000 and another.

H

One for 200 000 right um now we're asking for an additional yes exactly which they they actually.

A

Have it yeah state? Has it so? That's it just need to get it approved. Yes, we got to get it approved.

A

um Commissioner coyle, yes, um I my question is where we're at 75 of our overtime budget at 50.

C

Of the way do we do you think we can do? We have enough salary savings to offset and anticipated.

C

Increased over time you know I was gonna say I calculate that everyone every month, just.

A

To make sure um what we have for salary savings versus what we need for overtime.

H

And how are we projecting in it in light of we're going to be close come december, I think.

H

Because of what we're hitting every quarter, the amount we're expending it's quite a bit.

H

So everybody's projecting, yes, we'll make it in the black, but I think we're going to be closer.

H

Than we've ever been it's, this continues. It's a problem everywhere I mean across all sectors.

C

And I think it would just come down to what our staffing is going to look like going into.

D

The spring, and hopefully by the summertime, we have all comparable stuff, so it doesn't cost.

D

Us an excellent amount of overtime on top of people taking vacation time right right.

A

Other questions on financial reports just a point that can't be made enough. All that said.

G

uh In terms of the uh the size of the overtime that is spent by the police department in light.

G

Of the overall budget, it's a very small amount, correct right all right! Well, and I again I think.

A

Everybody at home, listening and here understands the the extreme staffing challenges across every.

A

Industry- uh and this actually leads to a point I wanted to raise under other business, which is we.

A

Are actively engaged in union negotiations for updated contracts which will play out over the.

A

Next year, but we are seeing that our our officers are not earning some of what's comparable in other.

A

Communities, so you know, we've we've got to address this, so we can keep patrol officers and we can.

A

Keep dispatch it's it's not acceptable, not to be able to pay people a wage. They can live on and and.

A

Do the kind of work we're talking about dispatch is a really hard job you're dealing with people's.

A

Lives in your hands in emergency situations, you have to be well trained. You have to know how to.

A

Work to manage the technology, that's available, it's not it's, not an a job that doesn't come.

A

With risk and stress- and so we have to do our part to do everything we can to get qualified.

A

People in there and keep them, and so that's a key focal point for us for the coming year and just to.

C

Dovetail on that just slightly just how much we appreciate everybody doing you know all everyone.

C

At the department doing the overtime shifts means so that you know to keep the community safe and.

C

um You know have dispatch services, it does. It is taxing and uh difficult work and we really.

C

Do appreciate greatly everybody taking those overtime shifts and um con those contributions.

A

Anything else in the finish report. Okay, one other point I just want to make sure we raise.

A

This evening, because it happened earlier today and it and this meeting should not.

A

End without acknowledgment and appreciation to the chief and to the entire department for.

A

Your work, along with the attorney general's office for referring uh what was potentially.

A

And looks like is definitively a violation of new hampshire civil rights act and that.

A

Has led to charges that were brought forward today and announced by the attorney general's.

A

Office here earlier today, so I'm sure you'll see more details in the press, but it really does go.

A

Without saying that would not have been possible, were it not for the department's efforts to.

A

Stop the crime, as it was happening, to report the crime to the attorney or the violation.

A

Of the civil rights act technically um to report it to the attorney general's office so that they.

A

Could investigate and bring forward charges? uh You know it appears. This is clearly a hate crime.

A

We're not going to tolerate it in portsmouth, and it was reassuring to hear today that the attorney.

A

General was going to take every action possible to prevent to prevent it from happening in the.

A

Future and to put these folks on notice, but that wouldn't have been possible without the department.

A

So thank you to the chief and the deputy chief and the entire team for making that happen.

A

Any other comments on that, just echoing uh commissioner shaheen sentiments. Thank you. As do I.

A

Great any other miscellaneous or other business all right with that. uh Just a reminder to folks.

A

That our next regular meeting is tuesday february 22nd same time same place, uh be here don't miss.

A

It and with that motion to adjourn second well, where are you making I'm asking for.

A

Everything motion to adjourn second favor hi. Thank you thanks. Everybody have a good night.

A

We marked it as tuesday, but it is wednesday.