Police chief requests crime analyst position in upcoming budget

LACONIA — Crime is a business and, lately, business is booming. Police department leaders hope harnessing advanced surveillance technology may help them quickly react to criminal and public safety incidents in the city. 

The Laconia Police Department responded to 20,401 calls for service, investigated 3,735 criminal offenses, executed 1,222 physical arrests and stopped vehicles 5,084 times in 2024, Police Chief Matt Canfield said. Police responded to 39 drug overdoses, four of which were fatal, and officers collected 41 needles for destruction.

“What’s driving our increases primarily results in salaries, shift-differential, overtime and contracted services,” Canfield said of the department budget.

Included in the budget request are a full-time administrative assistant position, cobbling together two positions which are currently filled part time, and a full-time crime analyst who would support the incoming real-time crime center.

“As well as assist with cyber investigations in the detective unit and do what is called intelligence-led policing and predictive policing,” Canfield said, “this is using statistics to basically predict where crime is going to happen, and therefore direct officers and resources to those areas in better response to those crime areas.”

The real-time crime center is, to a large degree, set to be funded through grant monies the department has secured. The police department received $3.2 million in grant funding over the past five years, including $200,000 for the construction and installation of the center and, included in their departmental budget request, an additional $150,000 to pay for the software license, a recurring annual fee.

Axon, a police technology company best known for its nearly ubiquitous body-worn cameras, also offers a product called Fusus. Fusus, referred to as the real-time crime center, enables law enforcement officers to aggregate multiple sources of video and other data to provide officers with accurate information quickly in the case of a crime or other public safety incident.

Officers could use Fusus to pull in live video feeds from security cameras in places like schools, banks, businesses or private properties, and owners could choose to opt in or out of the network. The City of Manchester already uses this program, as do other police departments in other cities across the country. 

The police department is seeking to hire a crime analyst to run point at the real-time crime center, and requested funding for the position in their budget at a council meeting June 9. It’s more likely the council will fund it initially for six months, as it’s not anticipated the real-time crime center would be up and running until later on in the budget year.

The council is slated to vote on the city's budget by the end of this month.

“We did receive a $200,000 grant to help kick that off,” Canfield said. “This real-time crime center would basically incorporate video from various sources to help us fight crime in the city, as well as [be] a game-changer at active shooter response, command and control in major events as well as many other day-to-day operations.”

Canfield provided an example whereby an individual has a package stolen off their porch, and said it’s labor-intensive to knock and talk on doors and process video evidence.

“This would streamline this, and this could be done in about 20 seconds,” he said. 

Councilors first learned of the department’s receipt of the grant during a meeting of the subcommittee on public safety on Jan. 24, about two weeks after a pair of Massachusetts brothers — Thomas and Jonathan Yarbrough, ages 21 and 19 — were caught on a video doorbell spray-painting offensive graffiti on the facades of businesses downtown.

In the future, Canfield sees the need for additional police officers, plus a full-time parking enforcement officer. At present, an animal control officer — shared by Laconia, Belmont and Gilford — performs parking enforcement to a lesser degree.

“Additional police officer positions once the State School property is built out,” Canfield said. 

At present, the department is staffed at 40 out of 45 officers, and three officer candidates are set to begin work in July. There’s another four grant-funded positions, bringing the total possible number of officers to 49. Those four are specifically associated with the Prevention, Enforcement and Treatment Program. 

“I anticipate being full-staffed here really quickly,” Canfield said.