Canfield: Police continue to uphold law, safeguard city

LACONIA — Immigration enforcement collaboration program or not, Chief Matt Canfield and the Laconia Police Department will enforce the law.

Councilors rejected a resolution Monday night which would have recommended the city’s police commission direct Canfield to sign onto the United States Department of Homeland Security’s 287 (g) program, which delegates certain immigration and customs enforcement authorities to local and state law enforcement agencies.

At present, there are just seven agencies throughout the Granite State which have signed on to the program, including the Belknap and Grafton county sheriff’s departments. Applications from two other agencies are pending. From January to March, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement data, there hasn’t been a single encounter related to the program in New Hampshire. 

But the city council doesn’t have the authority to direct the police department to do anything — not really, anyways. The department is governed by an independent body, elected by the voters, the Laconia Police Commission. 

Canfield said Thursday afternoon he runs the department independently of politics, and LPD’s top priority is ensuring the safety and security of the city’s residents, which they do through their own hard work and collaborative relationships with all federal agencies which predate the novel program.

“It’s as simple as that,” Canfield said. 

“I’m not influenced by politics and I wouldn’t allow it to influence my decisions or the actions of the Laconia Police Department,” he said.

Current enforcement strategy

The ICE partnership program represents just tactic at a department's disposal, and is quite limited in the authorities it grants municipal or county police agencies, Canfield said. Whether or not he decides to participate in it — he’s continually evaluating the program and weighing if it promises value to the city and his department — isn’t nearly as important as their existing relationships with state and federal agencies.

“We’ve always had that resource — the partnership — at our disposal,” Canfield said. 

Laconia Motorcycle Week, for example, brings together scores of officers from local, state and federal agencies every year. It’s the largest single event in New Hampshire, and Canfield says his department works with their partners well.

“We’ve been policing that event for 101 years,” he said. 

Another example of when city police would work hand-in-hand with a federal agency is for an arrest of an individual for, hypothetically, a firearm with an illegal short barrel. Deviation in barrel length is a federal crime, and that case would be picked up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

Regarding immigration specifically: Laconia police have partnerships in place with ICE and DHS, and if they need their assistance, they’ll call. Conversely, if those agencies need a hand, Laconia will lend one. 

For the city’s purposes, when looking at the provisions of the ICE partnership program, it basically gives local law enforcement the authority to detain someone based on immigration status alone, and requires they immediately notify ICE.

“The actual authority granted in that is limited in scope,” Canfield said, noting LPD’s priorities are enforcing municipal ordinances and state law. “The mission of our police department is to provide for the safety and security of our city.”

There are practical considerations to be made when evaluating participation in the program, Canfield explained. According to the memorandum of understanding, Laconia officers may be assigned to an ICE task force, taking an officer off the streets of Laconia and sent to another area of the state. 

“Our officers need to work in the city of Laconia,” Canfield said, though they’ll continue to assist other agencies by way of their K-9 unit or participation with the regional tactical team.

Additionally, LPD is one of just 18 agencies in New Hampshire — there’s over 200 of them — internationally accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, and there’s directives and policies at play there, including best practices on constitutional policing.

“With that as guidance, I think we’re definitely on the right track,” Canfield said. 

In practical terms, situations meant to be addressed by involvement in the ICE cooperation program hardly ever happen in the city, he said, calling them “extremely rare” though noting they have happened in the past. Canfield said he doesn’t believe the city has an “immigrant crime problem” and he also doesn’t believe there’s any evidence to lend credibility to that notion. 

“As a police chief, I don’t condone any type of crime. Whether or not it’s committed by people living in the U.S. legally or illegally,” Canfield said.

“287 [g] is just a small tool in the toolbox of many tools.”

Keeping politics away from policing

“Public safety should always be a primary issue for us, the city council,” Mayor Andrew Hosmer said Thursday afternoon, noting this aspect of public safety strikes him as a non-issue in Laconia based on discussions with Canfield and City Manager Kirk Beattie.

Hosmer said the request for council to weigh in on the operations of the commission and police department was inappropriate — calling it the “lowest point” of his time on the council and as the city’s mayor — and said its his opinion the resolution was brought forward by Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert because another resolution, proposed by Councilor Eric Hoffman (Ward 3), was passed just weeks earlier. 

“That’s what it is,” Hosmer said. “This was tit-for-tat.”

Commissioner Frank Mello declined to comment on the matter, and Commissioners Doug Whittum and Scott Davis did not immediately return requests Friday. Bogert did not immediately return a request for his comment.

Hosmer has complete confidence in Canfield’s judgment and ability to lead the department.

“He’s ethical, professional and serious about his responsibilities as police chief,” Hosmer said. “That rings true throughout the department.

“I trust him.”

Noting LPD does regularly collaborate with state and federal agencies, Hosmer said it's his opinion the council has no business in influencing the operations of the commission and the department. 

“I feel very strongly about that,” Hosmer said. 

“I suspect that the police department would continue to uphold its oath to the Constitution and to uphold the laws of the state.”