Hinsdale NH: What the Peeping Tom Incidences Disclose About the Police-Media System

My new Facebrook group:

Hinsdale Crime watch, Police watch and news

Aug 1

Got booted from crime watch.

July 31

Just heard from a birdy about a seminar the Keene's police chief put on last week. He said in the surrounding areas around Keene, there has been 90 heroin overdose deaths this year.
　
　
　

July 30:

Scot,

Do you know what an “injustice collector” is…a “fact collector” is very similar? A person becomes obsessed and aggravated by issues…he goes our collecting all the so called facts to avenge some grudge?

As a facts professional, you sure you got that right I was convicted with a class B felony? Thanks a lot the Brattleboro Reformer!

One of the great lessens I learned in my “replace the dilapidated bridge campaign” for over three years…is how to deal with all the irate and angry people who came upon me. I got tremendous positive signals from the greater public, but the irate people disproportionally bothered me. You just get a thick skin; “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”. You get a wonderful mastery of your emotions over people being irate and angry with you. I’d seen those angry emotions pop up over and over again, you’d begin to see how unproductive these emotions are. You had to keep your wits about you when you are in that environment. That bridge work down there made me a better person!

***So I’d like to see the Hinsdale police put up on the internet a running trend of residential burglaries, business break-ins and car break- ins on a weekly or monthly bases. Or any other indicator of heroin and drug infestation.

Please give us a description on the trends with these heroin problem indicators.

“Over the past two months, Keene police have been getting report after report of residential burglaries around the city. The burglaries are all over the map, but many have been concentrated in the Court Street area, according to police records.

But homes are just the latest targets in a pattern of theft that changes every few months, police said. So far, July has been a quieter month with seven residential break-ins in the city, according to a recent tally.

A while back, it was car break-ins. Then it was local businesses.

The broken headlight sitting on my bedroom desk.

I was coming home from a bike ride…there was a congregation of people at the top Woodlawn Lane. I walked over to them, I see a body face down on the side of the road in a culvert. The boy is moaning into the dirt. So after everyone left, I looked where he laid. That is when I found the rather large car headlight fixture. I knew in broke off because vehicle hit one of our neighbors. I thought, it took a lot of energy to break it off and it must have caused a lot of damage.

I brought it in our house and showed it to my children and wife as a example to pay attention while driving in town and slow down. They all think I am really weird. I ride these roads all the time…many people go too fast and many are driving while distracted.

So I got that piece of headlight plastic on my bedroom desk. I never want to forget that suffering human face down in a culvert who was hit by a car I seen. Hopefully it would always remind to slow down and pay attention around my house!     

Note: I am constantly updating this and repairing the mistakes I made in first writing this up. If I make a substantial mistake or correction I will leave the mistake in and and also make the correction.

July 27: 

Connecticut is expecting to have 300 overdose deaths from heroin in 2014. If the proportion of deaths in the Conn population carried over to all the states…total heroin deaths in the USA would be 26,500 heroin overdoses. The Vietnam war was 58,209.

The Iran and Afghanistan war total deaths were 8267.  Katrina 1833. 

We are in a national emergency.

The west coast doesn’t have near a severe problem as the east coast. I don’t think there has been any rise from normal. 

Why?

Note: Many NH cities and cities all through the northeast are gearing up to contend and fight this  heroin war by adding to the force additional police officers and court officials.

This is like a severe hurricane or some other natural disaster...why hasn't the states put in for federal disaster relief? Or why can’t our federal politicians write into the federal disaster relief regulation that this heroin problem is a natural disaster.    

July 26@ 6:30 pm (Saturday party night?)

Oh Baby, say it ain’t so, Joe. 

I believe I’d discovered two heroin dealers within a mile of the Hinsdale Town Hall. In separate locations. I give one a 90% probability and the other one a 80% probability of being a heroin dealer. They were the nervous corner guys or building stoop guys in the inner city ghettoes…always looking you in the eyes from afar hoping for a signal.  Except these guys were young whites! Did I see one with a Connecticut license plate just up for a visit? One was peddling heroin right in downtown route 119 and everyone knows where it is. 

It is convenient, I 91 being the favorite drug transportation corridor?

Imagine what a burden this is for the Hinsdale police and the selectman…triage. This is going to cost them big time bucks for a bust and the courts, with utterly no economic payback for the town. All our tax money is going down the toilet on this. And you know if they are busted, they will be right back in the streets next day.

Is this the local hub, in the hub and spokes drug distribution system…

Holy shit, once your eyes are opened, HOLY SHIT!   

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of  a private company or corporation.

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of a private company or corporation. 

I not saying we are anywhere like the Congo…but the shallow and superficial reporting by the newspapers and other new outlets are very similar to us.  

The Congo in Southwest New Hampshire

'Our stories about others tell us more about ourselves"

The telltale sign of such mythical, distant reporting is a distinct assuredness. Confusion and vulnerability are stripped away, as are the subtleties and contradictions of life. People and places are reduced to simple narratives — good and evil, victim and killer. Such narratives can be easy to digest. But they tell us only a portion of the story.   

 

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...and the media.
Basically you know the deal, the newspapers only make pennies from Hinsdale residents. Hardly worthwhile. The cheap way out of this with their overwhelmed reporters is to get overly dependant on the disclosures of the town officials and police chief. The officials feed them cheap stories. SO the reporters don’t want to disrupt this communication path…they never want to irk the police chief because then he won’t feed them stories and tips in the future.  Welcome to the small town shame culture of “Peyton Place” and everyone repressing all their problems.  I can  remember the old Hinsdale police chief talking about the Brattleboro Reformer…he had utter contempt for this newspaper.

Peyton Place is an exposé of the lives and loves of the residents of a small New England mill town, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy hide behind a tranquil façade in the years surrounding World War II. The film stars Lana Turner and Hope Lange, with supporting roles from Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, and Diane Varsi.

I give you an example…the Hinsdale Police chief set the agenda of the Thursday community meeting in the high school cafeteria. It is a peeping tom issue and I am worried about some vigilantes settling debts on their own. The newspaper reporters on their own would ever make the expensive trip out to Hinsdale and find out really what on the mind of the Hinsdale residence outside the agenda of the police chief. They can’t even portray the communities issues outside the chief agenda in the High school’s meeting. There will be retribution if the newspaper paint outside the lines of the chief and the town officials. 

I basically count four community members talking about making a police complaint…with absolutely no follow up on the complaints by the police.  One women talked about she was surprised the police never came out to his house to talk to her child about what he’s seen with the peeping tom issue he reported to mother. The mother said, at least they could come over to talk to my son so as to put him at ease and show that the police cared. In “community policing”, an issue like this isn’t really about the complaint…it’s about showing a police presence and establishing long lasting trusting relationships to the community members. Others talked about they were surprised the police didn’t come to their house to have a talk with their children trying to gather more evidence…a basic police work curiosity. One talked about calling the police because he had a dangerous unknown intruder in his house at midnight. He was hold the intruder by gun point…the police came to the house and arrested this dangerous guys. This man had children in the house. Once arrested, this man never got a call back from the police explaining what the charge the intruder with. Never got a call back at all.  I explained I had a missing three and a half old child missing from a neighbor for three hours, the mother was hysterical, called it into 911 three time, never got a immediate police response and never got a explination why the system screwed up. There is a wide spread pattern with the police force not properly interacting with community members making official reports to the Hinsdale police and they have systemic issue with communication across the board.
 

I think this police behavior all stems from inadequate police funding. I think this inadequate funding is blinding the police from knowing what is actually happening Hinsdale and it is blinding the community to knowing what is going on in their town. 

Right, the 4th estate’s role is serving their public. Their role is a immune system for us all. Their role is to courageously criticize the officialdom, town officials, the police department and collectively all of us They heroically and without any fear of reprisals publicly shine a light on our flaws hoping the wider system eventually corrects itself. This is the funding principles of our democracy and our democracy! We really don’t have a healthy 4th estate around here. We have a privatized and very limited news media system mainly serving itself. I am telling you folks, we are very prone to collusion with our officialdom and systemic corruption. Usually this falls hardest on the poor, weak and the disenfranchised.

So the main points of the newspaper articles coming out of the peeping tom community meeting should have been: “Hinsdale residents very concerned about police not responding to their reporting of criminal activity“ and “Hinsdale residents think their police department has a huge communication problem with them.”

How Many more secrets like this are hiding deep in Hinsdale:

A concerned Hinsdale citizen: "Tell you a story, about 8 maybe 10 years ago a teenage kid broke into our home, My neighbor caught him and detained him until the police showed up, When I got home my neighbor asked me if the police called me at work, or if anyone contacted me (we were working at the time), anyway I called the police and they came up, I wanted to press charges but the chief would not do it, personal friend I guess, this story has more twist to it, my point is NOTHING was done. I have heard of more of this kind of thing, you know that's not right. Maybe Vernon VT had the right idea when they voted NOT to fund their PD and now have state coverage."

I think the newspapers are fearful about the police and officialdom reprisals…these officials turning off the spigots the cheap penny ante stories. Remember, the papers crown these officials with status.

You scratch my back; I’ll scratch your back…the holy alliance. This doesn't really protect our greater good.

High Police Officer Turnover

During the end of the last police chief’s time, it seems to be the beginning of the police officer turnover. Once the new chief came in, there is rumors he got rid of some police officers deadwoods. Why the musical chair in the police officer ranks.Why the tremendous turnover of police officers in Hinsdale? Do the officers get experience and initial training in low pay Hinsdale...then head towards higher pay with their new qualifications.

There are implication we don’t pay the officers enough, issues with enough training…and little promotional opportunities. We get the bottom of the barrow and they don't stay very long because of low pay and benefits. I heard rumors a new hire police officer would get better pay and benefits at Wal-Mart. I just don't think we compensate the police force so the best and bright want to be a small town police offer. I worry they are putting in too much overtime to even lave a real life. This is a very stressful job and they need time off to recover from their job.

A bad police chief would go, oh, another police officer quit. He go though the long hiring process lucky if he finds a qualified applicant, then wait to get him into the state police academy. Then on to the job training. This could be a very lengthy process. A good police chief would think, I got a high turn over…I need to hire on three or four police officers and train them up. He’s anticipate other police officers quitting and promotion. He’d over staff his police department with one or two police officers…considering training needs of the troops and vacations.

Basically he says Thursday the department got police opening positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I'll bet you it's hard to find qualified candidates and with clean record...people who want to be small town cops. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force undermanning has been going on for years

Basically he says on Thursday the department got a police opened positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force has been undermanned for years. I believe they really use the police undermanning to control town budgets.   

Keene Sentinel

Hinsdale residents air concerns about alleged peeping Tom

HINSDALE — The town’s police department will continue to investigate reports of a peeping Tom in the community, but officers don’t yet have enough information to conclude there is one, Police Chief Todd A. Faulkner said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the department will move forward with establishing a community watch group after several residents said they were interested in being part of one.

Faulkner, Lt. David A. Eldridge and Sgt. Wayne H. Kassotis met with roughly 60 residents in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria Thursday night to discuss the alleged peeping Tom situation, which has several people in the community concerned.

Faulkner scheduled the meeting after the establishment of a closed Facebook page called Hinsdale Crime Watch, which had been reporting some of the alleged sightings.

Some of the information on the Facebook page, such as a description of the alleged peeping Tom and the number of incidents reported, is different, and in some cases more extensive than what has been reported to the police department, Faulkner said.

The information on the Facebook page can’t be used in the investigation because it’s considered hearsay, he said, and people who have first-hand information should report it to the police department.

“Since June 21 of this year, we received only eight official complaints about this potential issue. Of those eight complaints, only three detail a peeping Tom or an event like that,” Faulkner said.

Most of the reports were made to the police department hours to days after the incidents, and in the cases of two, which were reported immediately, police officers were unable to locate the alleged perpetrator, he said.

The majority of people reporting the incidents have been children or parents on behalf of their children, he said. In one case, police officers believe they know who was involved in the alleged peeping based on the description, he said.

The reports are spread across town, and not clustered in one area, he said.

“At this time, I don’t have information that would cause me to tell you to lock all your doors, close all your shades and sleep on the couch with your kids. We have something going on out there, but I don’t believe it’s a peeping Tom-type incident as of now,” he said.

He added, “Your children shouldn’t be afraid, and you shouldn’t be afraid for your children.”

Based on the information police have about the incidents, the person or persons involved may have mental health issues, Faulkner said. Some of the behavior being described is similar to somebody with a condition such as that of missing Chesterfield resident Ronald Cheever.

Cheever, 61, who has been missing since July 4, has dementia. He was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in the direction of Pisgah State Park on the afternoon of July 4, according to officials from the N.H. Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division.

“In speaking with Mr. Cheever’s family, the information being reported to us could be him or someone with the same disability as him,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner then handed out sheets of paper with information about Cheever’s disappearance and a description of him.

Cheever is described as a white male, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, and having gray hair. He was wearing tan shorts, sneakers, a red raincoat and a tan Harley Davidson Motorcycle ball cap at the time of his disappearance, according to the information.

Several residents at he meeting Thursday said they were concerned about hearing people say they were going to take matters into their own hands and not wait for police officers.

See, the Chief was talking about the scenario of war hero Dustin Curtiss’s homicide. Hinsdale police department and the state police are too overwhelmed and resource starved in order to solve this case. We are coming up to the one year anniversary (Oct) and not a peep out of the state attorney or the Hinsdale police department where this case is heading. Here we live in the “Promised Land” of libertarianism, anarchy and anti governmentalism. Instead of the home of the free and the brave…we are the home of the free-staters and anarchist.   

His father and Dustin got into a argument…the father solved the problem by killing his son. Everyone knows there has been violence related to this relationship for many years. This is a stand your ground or castle doctrine case, except in crazy New Hampshire it is between the farther and son. Again, if the Hinsdale police department was more intrusive, communicative and proactive…would Dustin be dead? There are rumors of a police delay in responding to this.

You know, if Dustin, the Dad, his family and the surrounding community thought the Hinsdale police department was a worthy and trustful partner, would somebody have brought the police department into this when the family conflict first emerged?  Why didn’t the father think he could get the police to help control his son. Why didn’t daughter in law or wife get the police involved…where they facing a severely dysfunctional and uncommunicative Hinsdale police department?

Was this murder preventable by good community police work and a more intrusive police force?

Don’t forget about the shootout in the North Hinsdale Road’s spiderweb leading to a unsolved homicide.   

Faulkner strongly advised against it.

“Taking the law into your own hands and trying to interact with the person could have a negative effect,” he said. “If the person is outside your home, your doors are locked, and you’re not in any immediate danger you need to call 911. If someone enters your home, and you’re in fear of your life, then you have to make that decision.”

Confronting someone, whether there is a physical altercation, could result in criminal or civil charges be being brought against either or both people involved in the confrontation, he said.

He then asked residents if they were interested in forming a neighborhood watch group. They said they were.

Faulkner said such a group would need to follow standards outlined by the Department of Justice, and he would schedule a meeting to present those standards and other information about forming a group at a later date.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

The one day late story of the Brattleboro Reformer

I got to admit, the Reformer did pose the question, the Hinsdale police department is unresponsive to their citizens. But they don't want to investigate the magnitude of it?

Hinsdale police chief addresses residents' safety concerns

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff

Posted: 07/26/2014 03:00:00 AM 

HINSDALE, N.H. -- Residents expressed fear and frustration at a special meeting the town's police chief scheduled to address concerns there might be someone around town glaring into people's windows.

Chief Todd Faulkner set up the Thursday night meeting in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria and told the more than 80 citizens in attendance there have been eight official complaints since June 21 about a potential "peeping Tom," but only three of them were consistent with that particular crime. Faulkner said each case was investigated and only two share a possible link. Accompanied by Lt. David Eldridge and Sgt./School Resource Officer Wayne Kassotis, Faulkner tried to calm residents' nerves and told them the Hinsdale Police Department is doing everything possible to get to the bottom of whoever is creating their anxiety.

"This may not be a criminal. We have a significant mental health problem in the United States," he said, adding that a 61-year-old Chesterfield man named Ronald "Buddy" Cheever has been missing since he was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in Chesterfield on July 4. Faulkner said members of Cheever's family have stated the traits described in official complaints to the police match that of their missing relative.

I don't believe the below paragraph at all with the chief. This is a product of the shaming culture of small town NE. Basically he is trying to protect the image and reputation of the property owners, large property owners and businesses in Hinsdale. He is attuned to the needs of the wealthy, not to the safety of the middle class. He don't want to taint the paradise called Hinsdale NH with the idea we got a peeping tom or any other dirty issue in Hinsdale. We basically got a little town inferiority complex...we don't have the security and confidence that we can discuss publicly any issue that comes up to the plate. 

Maybe one more police officer on the force would get you out to do the investigations and collect the information?

Faulkner also told the crowd he did not approach the local media with the information he has because he did not want to unnecessarily alarm residents, as only two accounts are potentially connected. Faulkner doesn't have enough facts to give a description of a suspect because the information he has is unverified and some of it is conflicting.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented

The Dustin Curtiss homicide case scenario…we are all still poisoned by a unclear explanation of what happened and it still hasn’t gone into a court case. Is that how we solve family and other disputes in Hinsdale; vigilantism and violence with a gun? Hate government and love anarchy. We got a lot of incomplete and unfinished business in Hinsdale.    

they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

The conversation then turned to citizens asking the police to address what they feel is a lack of follow-up on certain cases. One woman said her son and his friend were the two children who reported a suspicious man watching them play on July 2. She said no police officers have kept in touch with her about the incident. Faulkner explained the description his department received identified the suspicious male as a mental health patient and not a "peeping Tom." The woman said her children are afraid to go out in their own yard and wishes someone with the department could have come to her home to reassure her family members they are safe.

Allen Damon raised his hand and said he created the Hinsdale Crime Watch Facebook page. He told Faulkner that more than a year ago he had to force a man out of his home at gunpoint and never heard back from the responding officers, even though he had said he wanted to press charges. 

criminal trespassing: not on Thursday, maybe as a follow-up on Friday. No seamless coverage between the police and Cheshire County victim/witness advocate...the compartmentalization, siloing and balkanization of the police and the justice system to the troubled town folks of Hinsdale. Do you think this only happens in Hinsdale...I bet you it is systemic and widespread coming through the Keene court systems?     

Damon said he just found out that man was arrested for criminal trespassing, but he was never notified of that fact. Faulkner apologized to Damon and said a Cheshire County victim/witness advocate should have contacted him.

Faulkner and Eldridge said the police department is still short one full-time officer and the case load is drastically large. Faulkner said each officer has a stack of files they are investigating.

A woman asked if pepper spray is legal in New Hampshire, and Faulkner said it can only be used in self-defense. He also cautioned the citizens present about taking the law into their own hands.

"The last thing we need is a George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin incident that happened down in Florida," he said in reference to the infamous case of Neighborhood Watch Group coordinator George Zimmerman fatally shooting teenager Trayvon Martin during a struggle after Zimmerman called the police to

What about war hero Dustin Curtiss whose voice was stolen from him by gun shots by his father and a noncommunicative police department?

report someone acting "real suspicious" walking around in the rain in his gated community. Faulkner told people to stay vigilant and report anything they deem suspicious. He said all officers are tracked and monitored.

"If an officer is at Hinsdale Heights and then enters into a foot pursuit and people call and say, ‘There is a flashlight outside my home,'" Faulkner said, "the dispatcher can say that is a Hinsdale Police officer."

Resident Keith Owen urged all parents in the cafeteria to be careful in how they talk to their children about the issue at hand. Faulkner also added that he cannot rule out that the person causing concern throughout town is not simply a teenager playing a prank.

Before the meeting wrapped up, Faulkner mentioned the new on-body cameras his officers are sporting. He joked that citizens do not need to worry about the officers turning into RoboCops and said all officers must inform people of when they are being recorded.

A few people told Faulkner they understand his officers have a difficult job and appreciate their work to keep the town safe.

Bottom line, this might be less malicious than I portrayed it. It might be a natural product of our low population density and our rather isolation. It just might be a product of a lazy minds.