Board, police tell it to judge

LACONIA — Attorneys for Gilmanton’s selectmen and the town’s police chief made their case before a judge Thursday regarding a series of policy directives for the Police Department which selectmen maintain is a legitimate exercise of their administrative authority over town operations, but which Chief Matt Currier feels interferes with his ability to run the department in a safe and efficient way.

In a hearing held in Belknap County Superior Court, the chief’s attorney, Edward Philpot, argued that state law gives selectmen no authority to oversee the day-to-day operation of a police department. The selectmen’s authority “is limited to administrative functions. These directives go beyond administrative functions,” he said.

But the selectmen’s attorney, Mark Broth, countered that as the only legal entity of the town, the Board of Selectmen has the authority to institute policies to ensure that the Police Department, like other municipal functions, is being properly run, and further argued the directives the selectmen issued last December do not interfere with Currier’s law enforcement duties.

Last December selectmen enacted a series of Police Department policies regarding staffing and personnel, including the hours of coverage, staffing levels, lengths of shifts, use of cruisers, and when officers are permitted to travel beyond town limits.

The policies took effect Jan. 1, whereupon Currier took the selectmen to court. On Feb. 13 Superior Court Justice Amy Ignatius issued an emergency temporary restraining order blocking the selectmen from enforcing the directives. The restraining order has been in force ever since.

Thursday’s hearing was the first time the attorneys got to argue the merits of the case before proceeding to trial.

Sitting in the courtroom watching the proceedings were several law enforcement officials, including Belknap County Sheriff Mike Moyer, Gilford Police Chief Anthony Bean Burpee, and Center Harbor Police Chief Mark Chase. Philpot told the court that he intends to call law enforcement officers to testify at the trial.

Standing before Superior Court Justice James D. O’Neill III, Philpot said that unlike other municipal departments, police agencies are “functions of the state.” He maintained that giving detailed information about a officers’ work schedules, their whereabouts at specific times, when they are on duty, and even information contained in officers’ personal background checks is overreach. He told the court that putting such information into the hands of elected politicians increases the probability that that information might become public.

Broth told the court that all legal authority for the proper administration of municipal services is vested in the Board of Selectmen. He said it is the selectmen who ultimately approve hiring and firing, promotion, employee benefits, and such. He said it is entirely appropriate that the selectmen are requiring the police chief to give an accounting of how he is managing his department as well as to set basic policies regarding the use of his personnel.

“No police department is a legal entity,” Broth said, noting that only the selectmen oversee all the operations of the town.

“No one is seeking to remove the police chief,” he told the court. “The selectmen have no interest in influencing how the laws are enforced or what laws are prosecuted.”

With regard to the directive that chief give all the information compiled from an officer’s background check to the selectmen, Broth said, “The selectmen should have no less ability to to know the background of prospective employees than any other hirer in this state.”

Broth said the directives are a matter of checks and balances. “The selectmen have their responsibilities and the chief has his responsibilities,” he said.

O’Neill said he would take the matter under advisement. Broth said that the selectmen want the judge to lift the restraining order. Philpot requested the order remain in effect until the matter is decided at trial. O’Neill said temporary restraining order would remain in effect for the time being, and that he would issue a ruling but gave no indication on how long it would take.