Also on today’s menu:
Police Reforms In Portsmouth
Goffstown Man Charged In Hit-and-Run
Predicting that the state legislature would not provide funding for the independent agency that the LEACT report on police transparency called for, the majority of members on the Commission To Develop Legislative Recommendations Re: Establishing A State Entity To Receive Complaints Of Law Enforcement Officer Misconduct is instead recommending a review committee within the Police Standards and Training Council to review misconduct investigations. The committee’s powers would be limited in order to leave the full council in charge of sustaining decisions and determining punishments for bad officers.
Gov. Chris Sununu created the Law Enforcement Commission on Accountability, Community and Transparency to restore public confidence in New Hampshire’s law enforcement community in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Because through legislature and executive actions the majority of the LEACT recommendations have been implemented, the law enforcement members on the commission say “the landscape has changed” and an independent entity is no longer necessary.
ACLU-NH panel member Joseph Lascaze asked the other members why they had supported the LEACT recommendations last year but now want to drop the critical element of an independent agency and back decisions by a council comprising 10 law enforcement personnel and three members of the public.
Police Reforms In Portsmouth
The Portsmouth Police Commission will vote on the adoption of several policing and prosecution reforms on Tuesday, Oct. 26, that have the approval of Black Lives Matter Seacoast. Among the reforms are data collection initiatives and civilian oversight of the department’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule (“Laurie List”) decisions.
The recommendations arose over a period of 12 months with the involvement of three Portsmouth-area attorneys. Atty. Lisa Wolford says that, “if the recommendations are executed and adopted, Portsmouth may be the only jurisdiction in the state, if not the region, to undertake such initiatives.”
Among them is having the police chief report every case in which there is an internal investigation and when an officer has been disciplined with a suspension or termination. Court rulings, prosecutor decisions, and sentencing information would be included. Additionally, if the department can work out an agreement with the police union, supervisors would “immediately discuss with an officer any action the officer has taken that a judge or prosecutor has determined violates the constitution,” and use case outcomes to guide department training and improvement efforts.
Goffstown Man Charged In Hit-and-Run
Belmont police have charged Albertus S. Gage, 53, of Goffstown with two counts of felony-level wrongful conduct after an accident after allegedly striking two 14-year-olds in a crosswalk on Main Street with his vehicle and not stopping.
Under state law, leaving the scene of an accident in which a person is hurt is a felony potentially punishable by seven years in prison.
One of the accident victims was treated at Concord Hospital-Laconia and released, while the second victim was transferred to a Boston hospital for more serious injuries. Both victims are facing a lengthy recovery, according to police.
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