Police officer embedded in Laconia Middle School

LACONIA — Sitting in the office of Laconia Middle School Principal Alison Bryant, City Councilor Bruce Cheney glanced out the window overlooking Opechee Bay and remarked on how much things have changed since he was police chief.

“Back in the '70s or '80s when I was in law enforcement, we were asked not to come into the schools because it had a negative effect on the students,” Cheney said. “We negotiated to the point where we started having officers come here for lunch, to sort of open that up.

“Look how far we’ve come.”

Last week, the school got its own police officer.

Officer Bryan Moynihan reports to the school every morning, meets with staff and students and provides a first line of defense if a serious problem should arise.

Embedded at the school, he gets to know the young people, serves as a role model and helps defuse problems before they occur.

The City Council agreed to fund the new school resource officer position last year. Moynihan was a natural choice because he already knows many students through coaching youth soccer and teaching drug education courses.

Another officer, Steve Orton, works at the high school, where he also serves as an assistant football coach.

Building trust

Chief Matt Canfield said students come to learn an officer is someone they can trust, someone who can help them, even someone in a career they might be interested in pursuing themselves one day.

“Aside from the criminal enforcement, you take kids who are from broken homes or they see some bad stuff at home, and to have that positive influence through a police officer can make a huge difference,” Canfield said.

“Having that presence, and that relationship in place, kids feel a lot more free to come up and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on at home. This isn’t quite right,’ or ‘Hey, I know what happened with that case.’

“It’s the same thing with community policing. There’s a big difference between sitting in a car versus being out talking to people. You get so much more information.”

School shootings

In the back of the mind for students, teachers and parents is the fear of violence.

Education Week documented 24 school shootings that led to injuries or deaths last year in the United States. A total of 35 people were killed and 79 others were injured.

“The likelihood of that happening in Laconia is very slim, given the percentages, but it is a very real possibility,” Canfield said. “We’ve never had a school shooting, but certainly we have had real threats that have been dealt with.”

Local schools have increased security with cameras, secured entry points and  other upgrades.

Police train for active shooter situations in scenarios that are made realistic with screaming and fake blood. Bryant, the principal, participated last October, pretending she was a hostage in one drill and that she had been killed in another simulation.

Internet safety

Police are also concerned about Internet crimes that harm young people.

Bullying that takes place on social media can escalate. Inappropriate pictures may get spread online.

Another role of police is to provide drug education. It begins at the elementary school level and continues at the middle and high schools.

Police presence

Moynihan, 31, concentrates on getting to know students and relating to them. He may sit with them at lunch or shoot some hoops with them in the afternoon.

“Sometimes there are issues with kids at the school,” he said. “I try to de-escalate the situation. A lot of that is getting to know the kids.”

Bryant is pleased to have a police officer nearby. 

“I spoke with the staff and explained to them that, on any given day, we have 450 of the most precious beings in our city right here in our building,” she said.

“To have the police department and the City Council to support having an officer here speaks very highly of how we value our kids.”