Governor Chris Sununu Endorses Law Enforcement Training Reform Recommendations, Grants Commission 30 Day Extension

Statement

Today, after receiving an initial report from the New Hampshire Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community, and Transparency (LEACT), Governor Chris Sununu endorsed all of the Commission's initial recommendations relative to training.

"These action items found consensus between all members of this commission - from community activists to our law enforcement representatives," said Governor Chris Sununu. "Implementing these recommendations is a top priority, and we will work with the Commission and stakeholders to ensure that happens swiftly."

Included among the recommendations endorsed by Governor Sununu are:

-A Job Task Analysis for entry-level law enforcement officers and entry-level corrections officers by the NH Police Standards and Training (NH PST), along with an overall review of the present Academy curriculum.
-The purchase and deployment of a database management system and online learning platform by the NH PST in order to (1) maintain a full record over the course of an officer's career of their training completion, any incidents of sustained misconduct, movement from one agency to another and/or decertification, and (2) to develop and deliver standardized on-line training to all NH law enforcement.
-Creation of guidelines by NH PST that serve as a minimum standard with which all law enforcement agencies must comply, relative to: use of force, duty to intervene, code of conduct, duty to report misconduct, prohibition of chokeholds, procedures to guard against positional asphyxia
-Improve and augment police academy training on diversity by conducting a review of the present lesson plan on cultural dynamics and amend it to properly address the topic. Training on the topic of Implicit Bias and Diversity to be developed with one or more community partners(s).
-Amendment of NH PSTC administrative rules to mandate that background investigations specifically vet police recruit candidates in the area of having demonstrated outward bias of a protected group by way of past history, behavior, affiliation with a subversive group, social media posts and other objective sources to help determine the overall fitness for duty the candidate possesses and to consider those findings in the overall decision to hire the candidate.

Governor Sununu also also announced a thirty-day extension of LEACT to develop recommendations on: (1) reporting and investigations of police misconduct and (2) how to improve relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

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