Sheriff's department sees 44% turnover rate since election

LACONIA — The turnover rate for the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office is 44% since the re-election of Sheriff Bill Wright. Former personnel of the department claim a “psychologically unsafe” working environment is contributing to the high rate, while Wright contends that such turnover is normal after a contested election, and asserts that complaints are just part of a lingering “political cloud.”

The turnover rate data, as of February, comes from County Administrator Deb Shackett, who also serves as the county's human resources director.

Det. Judy Estes left the department in January after 15 years of service, and is now working for the Belmont Police Department. Estes said she took a pay cut for her current role in Belmont, and that the same was true for her peers who moved to different departments.

Deputy Steven Colcord retired in January from the sheriff’s office after over 11 years, where he worked in the warrants division and as a deputy U.S. Marshal. Colcord has moved into a part-time policing role outside of the agency.

Sgt. Collin Leblanc left in February, bringing the total number of full-time deputy exits since Wright’s 2020 victory to five. Fully staffed, there are nine full-time deputy positions at the department.

The former staff members say the turnover is a result of a toxic leadership style, and as a result, the department has lost high-performing officers to other municipalities.

Two former special deputies, Richard Grenier and Roy Roberts, say they were dismissed from their positions due to their involvement and public support of Wright’s opponent, Mike MacFadzen, during the 2022 sheriff's election.

“From a full-time perspective, other than someone getting a job as a chief somewhere else, people retire from that department,” Roberts said. “They don’t quit and get another job.”

“The turnover rate among full-time deputies is so low traditionally, that when there was an opening and someone did retire, they were beating down the doors to come in,” Grenier said.

“Those are some of the best law enforcement jobs in the county,” Roberts added.

Several full-time deputies have left the department for alternate jobs at local municipalities since the re-elections. Wright’s number two, Robert Nedeau, left last summer for a patrol job at the Meredith Police Department. Sgt. Adam Batstone, who by many accounts had a distinguished career within the county’s drug task force, left to join the Gilford Police Department last year.

“I’ve only had three people leave since November from the deputy side of the house, [and] I’ve got two of them filled,” Wright said. “The other two that left on the 28th of [January], one of the spots is already filled.”

The department had only one full-time deputy vacancy and two dispatcher positions open in mid-February. The recent exits however, have put the department $100,000 over its full-time personnel budget to pay out for retirement and earned time. According to Rep. Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), a member of the budget committee, $50,000 of that $100,000 has been funded so far.

Grenier and Roberts said they were both dismissed from their positions within a week of Wright’s re-election.

“One of the things most sheriff’s departments strive to do is make it feel like the deputies do not feel like they are a political organization,” said Roberts, who initially supported Wright during his 2020 bid. “If there’s an overtone to this, it is that in the last two years since the new sheriff, this is a political organization at every step.”

“We serve at the will of the sheriff. He doesn’t have to explain anything to us. We got discharge letters served to us by a deputy, which I guess is required, but he didn’t even speak to us,” Grenier said. Grenier also categorized the hiring of three of Wright’s political supporters, Rich Mann, Jim McIntyre and Rep. Doug Trottier (R-Belmont), as a political “quid pro-quo.”

Recently, McIntyre was promoted to chief deputy, and Trottier to sergeant. As a state representative, Trottier sits on the Belknap County Delegation, and recently brought HB 357, which would double the term of office for Belknap County attorney, register of deeds, treasurer and sheriff. Rep. Travis O’Hara (R-Belmont) recently applied for a position as a dispatcher, but did not get the job.

Grenier and Roberts served under multiple sheriffs, and from their perspective, dismissal of a political rival is not the norm. Roberts referred to the 1990 primary election where Steven Hodges defeated Tommy Alden.

“It was a heated race, but after Hodges got elected, [with] Tommy Alden, it took a little time, [but he] was promoted to sergeant and finished his career at the Belknap County Sheriff’s Department,” Roberts recalled. “The point is, I don’t remember anyone getting fired for supporting the other candidate.”

When asked why he dismissed the two experienced deputies, Wright did not provide details.

“They are former employees of mine. As to why they left, that’s a personnel-related matter so I cannot comment on why or how they left,” Wright said. “Why people come and go, that’s all their prerogative. Employees come and go from places quite frequently.”

Wright was dismissive of the turnover rate, which some have called “unprecedented.”

“That’s not true,” Wright said of the term. “Just look what's going on not only in our county but across the state, the country — its unprecedented turnover in law enforcement, anyhow. State police have 70 to 80 active openings. They have the biggest pocketbook and room for advancement, they’re having a hard time hiring.”

Wright listed other towns in the county with recruitment struggles, as well as neighboring Merrimack County.

“Merrimack has experienced a high number of turnover,” Wright said. “People leave because of their own choosing. They have other options. I won't stand in the way of anyone chasing their dreams.”

According to Merrimack County’s Human Resources Director Sara Lewko, their sheriff’s department has two full-time deputy positions, a full-time captain position, one civil secretary position, and two full-time and one part-time dispatcher positions open. That office's turnover rate was not available. Lewko noted that dispatcher positions were “hard-to-fill vacancies prior to election.”

Wright pointed out the same fact for his department, and said Belknap County has long struggled to maintain dispatchers, well before his tenure as sheriff, due to harsher working hours than neighboring departments. Since his election, Wright successfully lobbied to increase the pay for new dispatchers in a retention effort.

Roberts, Grenier and other former employees describe a toxic work environment under Wright’s leadership that has driven out dispatchers and deputies alike.

In a letter to The Daily Sun, former dispatcher Kyla Viana, who worked at the department for two years before exiting, wrote, “there have been numerous people leaving due to the hostile environment, whether they have only a few months of experience or many years.”

In the letter, Viana wrote that Wright stated he had seen her “acting like a bitch” among her peers during a personnel meeting. Wright has denied this claim, and Viana did not return several calls for comment for this story. Grenier and Roberts cited this alleged incident as an example of a lack of “psychological safety” in the workplace.

“Members of that department did not feel like they could go to Bill Wright and have a conversation about anything they disagreed with on what he wanted to do,” Roberts said.

One particular topic of contention in the department is Wright’s habit of conducting unannounced training calls to dispatch. One such incident was brought up by Wright's opponent during a Republican meeting in Laconia last summer.

Wright said he’s conducted test calls to dispatch for years, long before he was sheriff.

“What I can tell you is that I'm a person that always tries to be innovative to challenge personnel. When I was involved in the dispatch center as one of the supervisors, I would routinely discuss the training progress with our newer employees. They would inform me of how busy they are or not. During winter months, less calls come in,” Wright said. “That doesn’t stop us from having to fill spots and to train people. So we have training aids, and part of that was making some phone calls and presenting ourselves as Joe Public needing some form of police contact.”

Wright said that one of the most common characters he uses to test dispatch is a man with a lost cat. “It’s me calling and I’d say, 'I need some help.' I would say, 'My cat got loose, I need someone to help me come catch my cat.'”

After the dispatcher responds, Wright said he reveals himself, and then offers pointers accordingly before signing off.

“I would listen to the radio ahead of time, I would know what the current call volume is. I wouldn’t necessarily prepare the training officer and call them and say it's me calling, because I want to know what the real reaction is. See how they respond if they get messed up,” Wright said. "Again, it’s innovative.”

To Wright, this type of training for real-world situations is essential to vetting and training personnel at the department.

“There’s no disruption in service. I would be negligent if I didn’t challenge personnel. It’s no different than simunitions rounds,” Wright said, referring to simulated ammunition made with colored chalk used in law enforcement and military training exercises. “Me calling into dispatch on a midnight shift when there’s nothing happening, that’s called being responsible.”

Wright added that whenever he heard another station line ring during one of his spoof calls, he’d reveal his identity and tell the operator to take the other call.

Roberts and Grenier also expressed concern with Wright’s publicly visible and social media-oriented approach to the office. Since arriving to his position, Wright has admittedly brought changes to the department, some of which were not popular with employees, such as going out and about in the community more often instead of spending time at the station in between serving warrants and papers.

“I refocused the agency as to what the role and responsibilities of the sheriff’s office is. We need to be out and employed and interacting in the community,” Wright said, highlighting the need to help local municipalities due to police vacancies with tasks like traffic control and investigations.

“If we only serve paperwork, come back here and do whatever internally at the office, it doesn’t build connection" within the community, Wright said. “If current and former employees didn’t share those views, that’s unfortunate. I bring all the employees to the table to have a conversation. If they don’t choose to converse, I cannot fix that. As people move on, as they traditionally do, we hire other people and see what direction they’re coming in.”

As for his critics, Wright said they are a small but vocal minority.

“I think people need to look at what’s going on. It’s only a couple people. It’s not a community outcry,” Wright said. “They’re also mad because I'm hiring good, quality candidates. The message they are trying to spread is not accurate. This is all politics. At what point is this political mountain going to stop and we actually focus in on what we’re doing?”