Stephen Hodges: Dave Perkins career flourished under 3 sheriffs; the fourth?

To The Daily Sun,

After following the articles in The Laconia Daily Sun reference the three investigations and suspension of Chief Deputy David Perkins by Sheriff Moyer, I feel compelled to remind the community of the outstanding career David has earned to this point. As a former elected sheriff of the Belknap County Sheriff’s Department, and having spent 27 years with the department, the last 13 as the elected sheriff, I hired David Perkins on December 1, 2001.

David had been a police officer in the town of Gilford from 1996 to 2001 when I hired him. Of all who applied for the position, David was unquestionably the most qualified for the job. History will bear out that my assessment of David’s potential was correct. In 2006 Dave was promoted to detective within the department, a position he held until 2011, when he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He held that position for just one year and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, operations commander. In 2016 Dave was again promoted, this time to the rank of chief deputy and continued his role as operations commander.

From August 2016 until December 31, 2016, Chief Deputy Perkins filled the role of acting sheriff upon the retirement of Sheriff Craig Wiggin. Upon the election of Mike Moyer and subsequent swearing in of him as the elected sheriff in January of 2017 until the present, Chief Deputy Perkins continued to hold the chief deputy, operations commander position. Along the way, Dave was chosen and graduated from the very prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va. He also became a certified polygraph examiner, and was a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and operations commander of the Belknap Regional Operations Group (SWAT team) in 2016, another position he held until his suspension.

David has served the Gilford community by coaching football for over 10 years and served on the board of Gilford Football. While accomplishing all of this he earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees.

As you can see, Dave Perkins has progressed in the Sheriff’s Department from the position of deputy sheriff to the number two in command of the department. He also held the position of acting sheriff. Dave was successful under one chief of police and three sheriffs. What has transpired under the fourth is the question?

I strongly feel that Dave Perkins has shown over the last 24 years of his law enforcement career that he is a capable, honest, and hardworking individual. Please keep all of this in mind, over the next few weeks, until hopefully this matter gets resolved.

Stephen Hodges

Retired Belknap County Sheriff

Gilford