This comes from selectpeoples office. Effectively young people, the right young people, don't want to join the police departments nationwide because of their bad reputation in the media. And the economy is booming.
Redacted 'Laurie' list offers no answers for local additions
By PAUL CUNO-BOOTH Sentinel Staff
Twelve police departments from the region are now listed on the exculpatory evidence schedule, which tracks current and former New Hampshire law enforcement officers found to have lied, used excessive force or otherwise behaved in a way that could harm their credibility as witnesses.
This is what I think is the reason of the Laurie list. You get on this list as a police officer, every case of officer probably would get overturned. The state doesn't want justice with these cases and it is cheaper that way.
Officers stay on the list even after they leave an agency or stop working in law enforcement altogether. Because the state has not released an unredacted list, it is not clear who the officers are or whether they still work in the field.
Five local police chiefs said the officers listed from their departments are no longer employed there. In some cases, they said, the officers have been gone for years.
You know, the Keene Sentinel puts the disgraceful Hinsdale police department first in the article. There is absolutely no information our town has fixed this problem. I think the police department problem should be our highest priority. It is vital for our economic development. It effects our housing values. What company would want to move to Hinsdale that has a terribly dysfunctional police department.
“The three that are being reported on by this agency no longer work here,” Hinsdale Police Chief Todd Faulkner said. “I know that some of those names [being on the list] are a result of action that the department took.”...
The impedance of this meeting came from me. I asked about the problems with police in a prior selectmen meeting and it was recorded.
Pay cited for Hinsdale Police Department vacancies Posted Wednesday, June 5, 2019 7:51 pm
By Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer
HINSDALE, N.H. — The town of Hinsdale has 10 slots designated for its police department, counting the chief of police. But at this moment, it only has four officers and its chief.
"Our department is currently in crisis mode," said Corp. Adam Belville, reading from a statement during the Monday evening meeting of the Hinsdale Board of Selectmen. "Often times there is only one officer working at a time who is responsible for responding to calls and handling investigations."
After reading from his statement, Belville went on to describe the situation as "a boiling point."
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have the best interests of the town and department in mind," said Belville, who noted many small-town departments get rookie cops who stay on board for a year or two for experience before hopping to a bigger city with better pay.
All four officers on the town's payroll went to Monday night's meeting, but Chief Todd Faulkner stayed away.
"They didn't tell the board anything that I haven't told the board before," said Faulkner, and most of that is about how much pay he can offer new recruits to the department.
"Every year I have expressed to the town that pay is an issue," said Faulkner. "I am sympathetic about how the budget works and how much the people of Hinsdale are paying in taxes, but the hiring pool that's out there is not sustainable and my officers will do what's right for them and their families, regardless of how dedicated they might be to Hinsdale."
Starting pay in Hinsdale is about $19 an hour, or $39,520 a year, for applicants with no certification. With prior experience, the starting pay is a little less than $22 an hour, or about $45,760 a year.
"Do you feel one of the biggest factors in the retention of officers has to do with pay?" asked Selectmen Mike Carrier during the Monday night meeting. Carrier himself is a police officer with the Winchester Police Department and a former member of both the Hinsdale and Brattleboro police departments.
Belville said there are a lot of factors weighing against Hinsdale and other small-town police departments, but pay is one of the major factors.
"Larger departments ... are definitely dangling the pay in front of them," he said. In addition, he noted, officers can work at a larger department and have a smaller caseload because there are more officers on staff.
Sgt. Joshua Murray put it more bluntly.
"Would you go to the town that pays less to do more or go to the town that pays you more to do less?" asked Murray.
Up until about two years ago, said Faulkner, the town guaranteed all of its employees a 3 percent pay raise each year, dependent on a performance review, in addition to cost-of-living increases, amounting to about 5 percent a year.
The town went to performance-based pay raises for two years, he said, but this year has placed a freeze on all pay raises.
The Hinsdale police budget for fiscal year 2019, which ends June 30, is $1,390,493.
Both Belville and Faulkner acknowledged that all the departments in the region are fighting over the best applicants, but only the ones, like Keene, that offer a better starting pay, are winning.
The Keene Police Department is currently hiring, with a starting pay between $43,992 and $55,681, depending no experience.
Pay in nearby Winchester is similar to what is offered in Hinsdale, said Chief Mike Tollett, who has eight full-time slots, counting himself, all of which are filled. However, noted Tollett, one of his officers is leaving on Saturday. Pay starts at about $19 an hour for non-certified officers and $21 to $22 per hour depending on experience.
"Winchester is horrible with pay," said Tollett. And that's not just in his department. "No town employees got annual raises or cost of living increases."
In the past, said Tollett, the way to get a pay raise in the Winchester Police Department was to get promoted.
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