police

Three months after the New Hampshire Supreme Court delivered a transformative ruling over government personnel practices, including police disciplinary records, state lawmakers are considering creating new laws around them.

A new criminal justice advisory team at the Cheshire County Sheriff’s office will focus on building community relationships and confidence in that department. 

The team was put together by Cheshire County Sheriff Eli Rivera, as a way to respond to national and local calls for more transparency and accountability from law enforcement.  

 Escrito por Annie Ropeik y Sarah Gibson. Traducción de María Aguirre 

Activistas de justicia racial de New Hampshire dicen que la respuesta policial a la manifestación pro-Trump que se dio en el Capitolio nacional el pasado miércoles 6 de enero demostró un claro contraste a su propia experiencia con la policía durante sus protestas. 

Los grupos dijeron que habían más policías presentes en las protestas pacíficas que se dieron en New Hampshire el verano pasado como respuesta a los fallecimientos de personas Afro-americanas en manos de la policía. 

The select board for the town of Troy says it's gotten dozens of threats, after reports that the town police chief attended last week's rally for President Trump at the U.S. Capitol.

Troy select board chairman Dick Thackston has defended the chief, David Ellis, who says he left the protest before it turned violent and mobs overran the U.S. Capitol.

Racial justice activists in New Hampshire say the police response to Wednesday's insurrection by a pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol was a stark contrast to their own experience with law enforcement at protests.

They said they saw more police presence at New Hampshire's peaceful protests this past summer in response to police killings of Black people.

The state Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a former Portsmouth Police Commissioner who was sentenced to four months in jail for her role in a 2018 shooting.

Brenna Cavanaugh was found guilty of being an accomplice to attempted first degree assault and an accomplice to criminal mischief after prosecutors said she directed her boyfriend Mark Gray to fire a gun at a fleeing pick up truck.

(This story was updated Thursday, 3:30pm.)  

Officials have released the name of a man who was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Dalton Wednesday evening. The incident, which is still under investigation, left a New Hampshire state trooper hospitalized in critical but stable condition with gunshot wounds, according to the Department of Justice.

Lebanon’s city council heard a proposal Wednesday night from local organizers to reallocate 50% of the city’s police budget to social services, like mental health treatment and affordable housing.  

The proposal comes from the Upper Valley Democratic Socialists of America. The group wants $3 million from the police budget reallocated to social service organizations by 2022 to help support things like mental health treatment and affordable housing.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled that a confidential list containing the names of more than 270 police officers with sustained findings of misconduct on their records is not protected from release under the state’s Right to Know law. 

UPDATE: 9:45 p.m. Monday:

Police say a Maine man accused of firing a gun in a shopping center parking lot in New Hampshire had multiple stolen firearms and a significant quantity of ammunition.

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Gov. Chris Sununu says he’s backing a wide ranging list of nearly 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. 

Gov. Chris Sununu has granted a state commission on police accountability and transparency an extra 30 days to look into community relations and police misconduct. The commission, created in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, must deliver a full report with recommendations on police reform to the governor by the end of the month.

A statewide commission on police accountability and transparency has sent Gov. Chris Sununu recommendations for reforms to police training in New Hampshire.

Sununu created the commission in mid-June in response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The New Hampshire's attorney general's office has announced that a state trooper has resigned after he was accused of twice falsifying records.

James Callahan was first accused of falsifying information on a form following an incident in Madison, New Hampshire, earlier this year.

During the course of the investigation, the attorney general's office found Callahan had also falsified information on his official report. He allegedly made false statements about where the K-9 drug-detection search had occurred.

Originalmente escrito en inglés por Jordyn Haime para Granite State News Collaborative

Traducido al español por María Aguirre 

Eva Castillo recibe con regularidad llamadas de inmigrantes locales que le piden llamar a la policía por ellos. 

Castillo, una inmigrante de Venezuela, ha trabajado por años para mejorar la relación entre la población inmigrante de New Hampshire y la policía. Pero, muchos de ellos, incluyéndola, aun le temen a la policía. 

Gov. Chris Sununu has signed a sweeping bill to overhaul state criminal justice policy, including a ban on the use of chokeholds by police in New Hampshire.

A state commission looking at police accountability and transparency in New Hampshire met virtually this week to discuss current standards for training on diversity, de-escalation and use of force.

On Thursday and Friday, Gov. Chris Sununu’s Commission on Law Enforcement, Accountability, Community and Transparency heard presentations on how officers are trained in New Hampshire.

Calls to defund police departments are a growing part of American political discourse.

Demonstrators protesting decades of police violence against Black Americans in cities across the country have argued that some or all of the tax dollars that currently fund police departments should be instead rerouted to other social services.

The state Senate voted 23-1 Tuesday to pass a sweeping bill that tightens some bail standards and outlaws the use of chokeholds by police in New Hampshire.

Gov. Chris Sununu is pulling together a commission to look at police accountability and transparency in New Hampshire.

Sununu said he doesn't think New Hampshire is at what he termed a “crisis point” when it comes to police and community relations. But he wants the new commission to reexamine everything from police training to misconduct investigations and come back with recommendations within 45 days.

The goal, Sununu said, is to identify solutions that will enhance transparency.

Police departments across the state are trying to limit the amount of face-to-face contact between officers and the public to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Two patrol partners in Laconia are in quarantine after one tested positive. 

Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield says the coronavirus pandemic does put his officers at great risk.

“They can’t always wear personal protective equipment just given the nature of the job and the dangers associated with it -- from an officer safety standpoint,” Canfield said.