Gov. Chris Sununu says he’s backing a wide ranging list ofnearly 50 policy recommendations put forward to reform policing in the state.
The recommended reforms come from a commission created in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneopolis police officers.
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The group, known as the Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community, and Transparency, or LEACT, released its findings in a report last month.
Its members included law enforcement representatives, public defenders, a member of Black Lives Matter Manchester, and the Attorney General.
During a press conference Thursday, Sununu said he will take direct steps to enact some of the recommendations using executive orders or through the formal rulemaking process.
Other items, however, will require legislative action or reforms made by towns and cities.
“All of them I think were very appropriate, all of them are achievable in one way or another, and I just want to commend the group for putting forth ideas that were practical, and New Hampshire specific, and New Hampshire driven,” said Sununu.
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The recommendations include creating an independent police oversight commission to review allegations of misconduct. The LEACT report also recommends all police officers wear body cameras.
Sununu said he will direct State Police to comply with that recommendation, but that it will take legislation to mandate local police departments also to require body cams. It isn’t clear where the funding would come from for the measure.
Sununu is also supporting the release of the so-called ‘Laurie List,’ which contains the names of approximately 250 police officers with credibility issues, as recommended by the LEACT Commission. It has laid out a process that would provide people on the list with six months to file an appeal for their removal before releasing the document to the public.
This week, the New Hampshire Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of New Hampshire and several media organizations to have an unredacted copy of the list immediately disclosed to the public.
