Commitment to community policing puts Dover Police Department ahead of state reform

posted on: 10/14/2020

Earlier this summer, Gov. Chris Sununu called for reforms throughout New Hampshire’s law enforcement agencies, based on recommendations by the New Hampshire Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency (LEACT). Sununu last week issued an executive order mandating changes.

Dover Police Chief William Breault announced this week the Dover Police Department already meets and exceeds most of the recent LEACT recommendations.

"I have closely followed the LEACT Commission's work and their recommendations to ensure the Dover Police Department continues to follow best-accepted practices and remains a premier law enforcement agency, serving as a model locally and nationally," Breault said. "As such, I have reviewed the Dover Police Department's policies, procedures and actions as they relate to the LEACT Commission's recommendations and the Governor's executive order, specifically addressing how the department currently meets, exceeds or intends to meet the recommendation."

Gov. Chris Sununu established LEACT through an executive order on June 16, 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. Floyd, an African American, was killed during a police arrest. Many vigils and protests nationwide followed Floyd's death, including one at Henry Law Park organized by the Dover High School club Project DREAM (Diversity, Respect, Education, Advocacy and Mission). This and other vigils called for law enforcement reforms to reduce police violence. Breault and other Dover Police officers joined the Henry Law Park vigil.

"I am outraged by the action and inaction of those who took an oath to protect and serve and am saddened by the tragic loss of human life," Breault stated in a June 1 letter to the Dover community. "What we saw occur in Minneapolis is not only completely against the mission, vision, and values of the Dover Police Department, but also the training, tactics, and professionalism with which our officers serve the community each and every day." 

On August 31, 2020, LEACT submitted its final report to Sununu with 48 law enforcement reform recommendations specific to training, community relations, officer recruitment, police misconduct, and mental health and wellness. Read the full report and associated documents at https://www.governor.nh.gov/accountability.

Sununu stated on Sept. 17 that he supports all of the recommendations. On Oct. 7, Sununu issued an executive order that directs the Director of New Hampshire Police Standards and Training (PSTC), the Attorney General, and the New Hampshire State Police Colonel to enact specific recommendations that fall within their respective purview.

One recommendation is to encourage police departments to be accredited through a national agency that ensures best law enforcement practices. The Dover Police Department has been a nationally accredited agency through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) since March of 1988. It was the first law enforcement department in the state and the 62nd agency nationwide accredited by CALEA.

"I credit the City of Dover's commitment to maintaining the police department's national accreditation," Breault said. "It ensures that we identify trends, remain current with best practices, and are focused on guaranteeing that our internal policies, procedures, and practices result in the high level of customer-focused service to all members of the community."

City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. shared Breault’s assessment with the City Council this week, adding the Police Department’s status of meeting or exceeding most of the LEACT recommendations reinforces the “community’s long-standing commitment to community policing practices and continuing accreditation as a law enforcement agency.”

LEACT's recommendations fall into four categories: training, reporting and investigation of police misconduct, community relations, and mental health and well-being.

Below is the full list of recommendations and the Dover Police Department's response to those recommendations. 

TRAINING

Recommendation: Increase the mandatory number of hours of annual in-service training for law enforcement officers on an incremental basis over the next three years. By January 1, 2024, the total mandatory hours of annual in-service training should be a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours.

Dover Police: Department already exceeds 24 hours of annual in-service training. The average Dover Police officer received 152 hours of annual training in 2019.

Recommendation: Mandate annual in-service PSTC approved training of at least two hours each for implicit bias and cultural responsiveness, ethics, and de-escalation.

Dover Police: Department provides training to all officers specific to bias-based policing, ethics and cultural responsiveness annually. De-escalation training is also incorporated throughout a variety of use of force and firearm training.

Recommendation:  PSTC should arrange for a Job Task Analysis (JTA) for entry-level law enforcement officers and entry-level corrections officers. Based on those findings, PSTCE should conduct an overall review of the academy's curriculums. Based on curriculum changes found by the JTA, extending police academy training beyond its current 16 weeks may be warranted.  

Dover Police: As required for accreditation CALEA, the department conducts JTAs periodically, the most recent 2019. The JTA is analyzed to ensure proper supervision and training needs are being met.

Recommendation: PSTC should leverage technology and purchase and deploy a robust database management system and online learning platform. This would allow the PSTC to maintain a full record of officer training, incidents of sustained misconduct, movement from one agency to another and/or decertification. It would help develop and deliver standardized online training to all law enforcement officers efficiently and economically.

Dover Police: The department maintains records of all officer training and discipline. The department also uses technology to deliver in-service training. Dover officers already complete weekly Computer-Aided Training and a host of other virtual and online training from various sources.

Recommendation: PSTC, in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, using nationally vetted best practices as set forth by IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police), CALEA, PERF (Police Executive Research Forum), and NOBLE (National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives), shall create policy guidelines on the following topics that serve as a minimum standard with which all law enforcement agencies must comply: use of force; duty to intervene; code of conduct; duty to report misconduct; prohibition of chokeholds; procedures to guard against positional asphyxia.

Dover Police: Because CALEA accreditation requires it, the department has incorporated national best practices use-of-force policy that requires officers to intervene and report misconduct. Additionally, chokeholds are prohibited by Dover Police unless it is the option of last resort in deadly force situations. The department train officers in the concept and ways to avoid potential positional asphyxia.

Recommendation: PSTC should increase the number of hours of scenario-based training in both academy and in-service settings.  

Dover Police: The department uses scenario-based training extensively in its Use of Force and Crisis Intervention training.

Recommendation: PSTC should improve and augment police academy and in-service training on implicit bias and procedural justice by adopting the IACP recognized Fair and Impartial Policing (FIP) training or similar type training.

Dover Police: Breault has attended this training that is currently only available to police chiefs. Department officials are developing interactive training specific to department policies and procedures to use FIP training. Additionally, department officials are working with IACP and other organizations to provide similar training at department headquarters for Dover Police and other departments in the region.

Recommendation: PSTC should improve and augment police academy and in-service training on de-escalation techniques by adopting the PERF's Integrated Communication and Tactics training (ICAT) or similar training.

Dover Police: Breault believes ICAT or Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) should be standard police academy training. Dover Police has many officers certified in Crisis Intervention through a 40-hour course provided by New Hampshire's National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). Dover Police recently hosted a class that certified seven additional officers and first-line supervisors. Breault has offered department headquarters for NAMI-NH training. "My goal is to have all sworn staff CIT trained within the next three years," Breault said. According to NAMI, most agencies are lucky to have 10 percent of their law enforcement officers trained.   

Recommendation: PSTC should re-evaluate the part-time police officer certification process upon receipt of the JTA and consider extending the length of such training and consider what law enforcement functions part-time officers be allowed to perform.

Dover Police: The department does not have, nor anticipate having, any part-time officers. All sworn staff are full-time certified.

Recommendation: PSTC should amend an administrative rule to mandate that background investigations specifically vet police recruit candidates in the area of outward bias toward a protected group by way of past history, behavior, affiliation with a subversive group, social media posts, and other objective sources to help determine the overall fitness-for-duty the candidate possesses, and to consider those findings in hiring decision.

Dover Police: For the last several years, the department has vetted all applicants for any evidence of bias toward protective groups. This is addressed explicitly with listed and non-listed references, along with an online background search during background/suitability investigations for all new hires.

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to pursue CALEA accreditation. In the absence of CALEA accreditation, agencies should continually review and maintain policies consistent with nationally accepted best practices.

Dover Police: The department has been accredited since 1988 and is currently one of only 14 agencies in NH to be CALEA accredited. Dover Police are often contacted by other agencies seeking to copy our policies, procedures and practices.

REPORTING AND INVESTIGATION OF POLICE MISCONDUCT

Recommendation: Encourage all law enforcement agencies to use body and/or dash cameras. 

Dover Police: In July of 2020, Breault convened a committee to study body cameras. The committee was tasked with reviewing total costs, policy implications, Right to Know and trial discovery concerns, and identify any other operations issues and/or benefits of use. This information will be used for the upcoming budget request. The department estimates the annual cost to be approximately $130,000. This cost includes outfitting officers with body cameras, installing cameras in patrol vehicles, reviewing recordings, managing the system, and responding to discovery and Right to Know requests.

Recommendation: Make the existing Exculpatory Evidence Schedule (EES), sometimes referred to as the Laurie List, public.  

Dover Police: The department is bound by current law specific to this; however, Breault supports making the EES list public. "It would allow the public to know that the Dover Police Department does not tolerate any conduct that would place an officer on the list, and it would be grounds for termination," Breault said. "Unfortunately, this is not happening across all law enforcement agencies."

COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies should gather, analyze and make available to the public, at least annually, data on demographics (including, at a minimum, gender and race) for arrests, citations, and motor vehicle and subject stops, regardless of disposition.

Dover Police: The department collects and analyzes this data as this is a CALEA requirement. The statistics are available on the department's website.

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies will comply with state law to submit crime reports to the Department of Safety Division of State Police, as recommended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Dover Police: The department has done this for more than twenty years and will continue to do so.

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies should adopt the definition of Community Policing as set forth by IACP.  

Dover Police: The department's policy is consistent with the IACP definition.

Recommendation: Encourage all law enforcement agencies, when practicable, to dedicate an officer or unit to community policing and engagement.

Dover Police: In 2015, the department formed the Community Response and Engagement Unit (CREU). It comprises various community policing positions, such as the Dover High and Middle schools resource officers, the downtown liaison officer, the Dover Housing Authority liaison officer, and the Problem-Oriented Policing officer.

Recommendation: Encourage all law enforcement agencies to engage in community relationship building by working collaboratively with community liaisons, public agencies, non-profits, community stakeholders and existing community-based programs.

Dover Police: The department has an extensive history of working with a variety of agencies, including HAVEN, Dover Housing Authority, Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, Community Partners, SOS Recovery Community Organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NH, Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce, Dover Main Street and many others.

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies should establish ongoing officer training at all levels to encourage a culture that empowers individual officers to engage in community policing and relationship-building efforts.

Dover Police: The department encourages a culture of community policing. All officers must engage in non-enforcement related contact with the community through the department's Community Contacts Initiative. Additionally, officers are encouraged to participate in many other community-related events such as Special Olympics, Bigs with Badges, and other community programs.

Recommendation: All law enforcement agencies should publish/advertise community events and consider the use of social media and the establishment of Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaigns to educate the public about police officers and their work.

Dover Police: The department maintains a social media presence to disseminate PSAs. Several social media initiatives are ongoing, such as Meet DPD Monday, in which a different officer is highlighted each week. We also routinely post information about new officers, promotions and department-wide initiatives.  

Recommendation: PSTC should maintain and publish a list of all currently CALEA accredited law enforcement agencies.

Dover Police: The department supports this as it would encourage other agencies to seek accreditation. Those listed will be used as examples of best practices, as is often the case now with Dover Police.

Recommendation: PSTC should mandate "certification" for Student Resource Officers (SRO) that would require the officer to complete the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) training, Mirror Project Train-the-Trainer, and Effective Police Contact with Youth training before assignment. Further, certain annual in-service hours to maintain SRO "certification" should be identified and mandated by PSTC.

Dover Police: The department sends all SROs to any appropriate and available training specific to their role as an SRO. Timing and availability of the training is often the largest obstacle.

Recommendation: PSTC should work with stakeholders and oversee the development of a model SRO Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be used by police departments and School Administrative Units (SAUs) that clearly defines the roles, expectations and prohibitions of the SRO's role in the school setting, and specifically, concerning the SRO's role in student discipline for non-criminal matters.

Dover Police: The department already has an MOU with the Dover School Department that defines the SRO's role. Additionally, department command staff have ongoing and regular contact with school administrators to ensure that the SRO and department expectations are being met.

Recommendation: Each law enforcement agency should have a field training program specifically for SROs. A transition plan should be implemented over the course of weeks/months between each outgoing/incoming SRO, so there is overlap, information exchange, and adjustment for the stakeholders.

Dover Police: The department ensures proper training during the transition from an outgoing SRO to a new SRO. Additionally, the Dover School District and school principal are directly involved in the SRO selection process.

Recommendation: MOUs between law enforcement agencies and SAUs should be made public.

Dover Police: The MOU between the Dover Police Department and the Dover School District is done through a public process. The Dover School Board reviews the MOU at public meetings and votes to authorize the superintendent to enter into an MOU.

Recommendation: Recognizing the difficulty of hiring and recruiting qualified candidates, law enforcement agencies should continue recruiting officers from minority communities to allow for a diverse law enforcement workforce.

Dover Police: As required by CALEA, the department has a comprehensive recruiting strategy that focuses on identifying qualified minority candidates. That plan includes recruiting out of state as well as from historically black colleges and universities.

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Recommendation: Specially trained mental health professionals should be embedded in tactical response teams.

Dover Police: The Strafford County Regional Tactical Operations Unit, which the Dover Police Department has officers assigned and is deployed to tactical incidents within the city, already does through a contract with Dr. Nicole Sawyer, a licensed clinical psychologist.  

Recommendation: Encourage partnerships between communities and local law enforcement to pursue services and resources dedicated to individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental illness. Work to make those services readily available to reduce the burden on law enforcement responding to issues stemming from SUDs and mental illness. 

Dover Police: The department has outstanding partnerships in these areas. Dover Police is one of only two New Hampshire police departments that participate in Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD). It's a program that allows officers discretionary authority to divert individuals for an assessment with SOS Recovery Organization services instead of being arrested. Additionally, the department has established a partnership with Community Partners to assist individuals suffering from mental health issues.

Recommendation: Offer training regarding the mental well-being of law enforcement officers. Training should include information regarding the high rates of post-traumatic stress, depression, and suicide among law enforcement officers and available resources to seek help. Enhance the availability and encourage the continued collaboration of law enforcement peer-support programs in the state.

Dover Police: "I have made officer well-being a priority," Breault said. "We use a state peer support team to debrief critical incidents and provide all officers with a comprehensive index of resources. Additionally, we are in the process of forming an internal focus group to discuss the department's current state of mental wellness initiatives and collaborate on ideas that would make us better in this area."

Recommendation: PSTC should explore the issue of requiring mandatory periodic psychological screenings of law enforcement officers.

Dover Police: The department requires all new hires to undergo psychological screening as part of the hiring process. Additionally, when the department identifies or suspects any mental health-related concerns with an individual officer, that officer must undergo a fitness-for-duty assessment. We also mandate that officers involved in traumatic incidents undergo a fitness-for-duty examination.