'Greatest job in the world': Franklin police chief retires after 46-year law enforcement career

FRANKLIN — Police Chief David Goldstein, 72, is retiring after almost 16 years heading the Franklin Police Department, and after a 46-year career. Goldstein believes now, more than ever, he is ready to hand in his badge, saying he hasn’t had a vacation his entire career.

“My wife is retired, my children are grown,” he said. “I want to see this country, travel around a little bit.”

City Manager Judie Milner started working for the city the same year Goldstein did. In previous jobs she held, she had some difficulty working with the police. But with Goldstein, it was a much better experience, and she knew she could rely on him to talk through any problem.

“We were always honest with each other about anything. I am going to not only miss him as the police chief here, but as a colleague and a friend,” Milner said. “His integrity, that's going to be hard to fill.”

Goldstein's last day is Thursday, Oct. 31.

Goldstein said his lack of vacation time stems from anxiety of what could happen to his team while being away.

"Can you imagine being on a two-week cruise, which I'd love to do, a two-week cruise to the Bahamas and Caribbean, and getting a message that one of my people was either hurt or killed?" he wondered. "How's the rest of the vacation?"

Goldstein has had a long career in law enforcement. He started with the special auxiliary police in the '70s in Belmont, Massachusetts, where he grew up. At this time, he was working with police officers, focusing on mental health. This led him to eventually join the Belmont Police Department in 1978. It wasn’t long before he ended up in New Hampshire, being sworn in at the Derry Police Department in 1980. He spent a couple of years in there before joining State Police, where he served for 23 years, the longest period in his career.

Goldstein filled many roles with State Police. He began as a uniformed trooper, on the road for eight years. After that, he went undercover for a couple of years, and eventually joined the Major Crime Unit, working crime scenes and polygraphs for a dozen years, as well as on the SWAT team. He retired from State Police in 2004, after working supervisory roles. Then he started his first job as police chief, heading the department in Winthrop, Massachusetts. It wasn’t until February 2009 that Goldstein was hired in Franklin as chief for his last professional undertaking.

Despite being the most experienced at the end of a career, Goldstein said it’s common for career cops to end up working in smaller communities, like Franklin.

“More than 50% of the police departments in this country are Franklin-sized or smaller. The New Yorks, the Bostons, the Phillies, the LAs and all that, they're more the anomaly,” Goldstein said. “But when you leave those places, where do you go? You come to Franklin, Laconia, Tilton, that type of thing.”

Goldstein said he had connections in the department which drew him to the city. But he was faced with one issue before he made his decision to work in Franklin: its reputation. He said the city has had a negative reputation throughout his career, often in relation to drug-related crime. As the incoming police chief, Goldstein was hoping to rid the city of that reputation.

“Sometimes it's difficult to divest oneself or even an organization of a negative connotation,” he said. “I knew the first thing I wanted to do is bring that back to the positive.”

Fellow officers would question his decision, telling him Franklin was not a nice place to live and work. But Goldstein was not deterred. In fact, the city didn’t feel any different from other communities he'd lived in, and he knows his line of work is required in any community.

"Police officers are police officers are police officers,” he said. “Crime is crime is crime.”

The two biggest issues Goldstein identified in Franklin were drug-related crimes and domestic violence, which, he says, are often related. To curb the issues, Goldstein aimed to have officers specializing in addressing them. While he used to have two, the department currently has one drug detective. He also formed a partnership with Franklin Partners in Prevention, a group of individuals and organizations working to establish a healthy, drug- and alcohol-free environment for youth and families. Goldstein believes these partnerships are especially important, both for crime reduction and general understanding.

“We combine that with law enforcement and with education, and we were doing some good work,” he said.

According to New Hampshire Crime Statistics, in 2010, there were 80 drug and narcotics crimes, 75 arrests and 72 drug seizures in Franklin. The latest numbers in 2023 are down from those, with 65 drug and narcotics crimes, 56 arrests, and 40 drug seizures.

Lawsuits unresolved

The end of Goldstein’s career is also marked by controversy. He is involved in a lawsuit brought against the city by Miriam Kovacs, a local business owner. In the suit, Kovacs criticized Goldstein’s inaction against a white supremacist group after she was on the receiving end of antisemitic attacks at her restaurant Broken Spoon. Goldstein defended himself and the department in a Facebook post. The incident came on the heels of a vote of no confidence in Goldstein and Milner by the Franklin Police Patrolman’s Association in December 2022.

Former officer Jacob Drouin, president of the union at the time of the vote, led the effort. He experienced a work-related disc herniation injury in 2019, then reinjured himself in 2022 while on bike patrol. He filed a worker’s compensation claim, which was met with public criticism from city officials including Goldstein, who questioned the truthfulness of his injury. Polygraph assessments proved inconclusive. Drouin said incidents like this, along with Goldstein’s lack of presence at the department, led to the vote of no confidence.

“It allowed a culture of retaliation and unfair treatment. And that's something the union tried to address and try to get heard,” Drouin said. “That's kind of what led to that vote of no confidence, because we just seemed like there was no way to get through.”

Drouin, who was terminated from the force in 2023, now works as a paraprofessional in Epsom, earning accidental disability retirement. He said he still experiences symptoms of muscle atrophy in his left leg and calf. At the age of 35, Drouin wasn't ready to retire from his career as a police officer, but his injury made it impossible to do the job safely.

“I look like I'm able to do certain things, but I can't be put in situations where it's life or death,” he said.

Goldstein limited his comments about the suits, but wanted to defend himself and his record. Goldstein said it wasn’t the whole union that voted against him. While five voted no confidence, three officers abstained, and one expressed support of the chief.

“People don't realize that it was just a handful of individuals involved who had this vote,” Goldstein said. “Be my guest. It's a free country. They are 110% wrong.”

The future of Franklin PD

The selection of a new chief is ongoing. A board of chiefs around the state as well as other local department heads make up an interview committee. That committee, according to Milner, includes Concord Chief Bradley Osgood, Laconia Chief Matt Canfield, Derry Chief George Feole, Franklin Fire Chief Mike Foss, Franklin Municipal Services Director Justin Hanscom and Franklin Parks & Recreation Director Krystal Alpers. The committee went through 25 applications, and selected five to interview this week. The top two candidates will be interviewed by Milner next week. The committee will then evaluate her choice. Milner isn't sure why the city manager doesn’t sit on the interview committee, as she does for other city positions. During the interviews, she sits off to the side, receiving helpful comments from committee adviser Hudson Chief Tad Dionne. She prefers it this way, believing she can focus on things she wouldn’t be able to if she was asking questions.

“If I was on the committee, I'd be focusing on my next question or what the person just said,” Milner said. “I can focus on body language. The body language of not just the person getting interviewed, but the interview committee too. I could tell when they did not like someone.”

Milner said what she is looking for in the next police chief is someone with integrity, work ethic and strong convictions.

“They need to lead that department, and they can't be afraid of their actions because they're ultimately responsible for that department. And today, especially with police and today's environment and the whole since George Floyd thing, all police officers are looked at as if they're dirty. And that's not right, but that's how society does it,” she said. “So we want to keep the integrity of our department top notch.”

Drouin expressed his wishes for the qualities of the next chief. He is looking for transparency and accountability, and the willingness to listen to people at all levels of the department. Drouin expressed about some internal applicants, and said some in management, like Lts. Daniel Poirier and Ralph Hale, received more no confidence votes than Goldstein, and believes them to be complicit in the poor work culture.

“I hope that whoever comes in understands the unique opportunity that they've been put in, and that they just kind of hold true, [and] they are able to develop a department culture that has integrity and fairness and creates mutual respect throughout all ranks,” Drouin said.

Goldstein had his own thoughts on the next chief. All he hopes for is someone who loves the job of chief just as much as he did.

“Just as long as that individual loves police work. The rest falls into place. You got to love this,” he said. “This is the greatest job in the world.”