Goffstown Police Department

2008 Internal Affairs Statistics

In 2008, there were twenty-five complaints of varying nature filed by citizens. This is down by five complaints filed in 2007

Sworn officers accounted for twelve complaints. Command staff accounted for one complaint. Three complaints involved communications personnel, one involved a crossing guard, three involved sergeant, and five involved general complaints about departmental activity without naming a specific officer.

Examples of the types of complaints filed include:

Inappropriate comments

Rudeness/conduct unbecoming/discourtesy

Failure to conduct proper investigative follow-up

Poor work performance/failure to handle complaint

Improper vehicle operation

Misuse of discretion

Theft (from employee work areas)

Not following confidentiality rules

Theft by officer

Care and use of department equipment

Eight complaints were determined to be improper conduct (founded complaints) where appropriate disciple was handed out in accordance with our progressive discipline, general order 306 and town personnel plan. As usual, all of the complaints were taken seriously by the intake officers and investigators assigned to investigate them.

In founded cases, corrective measures were taken to correct the behavior complained of. Those measures involved counseling sessions, or re-training in the given area of responsibility. Policy (general order) review was also undertaken, as was a review of training to determine if any flaws existed in the policy/training which might have contributed to the problem complained of arising in the first place.

Three of the complaints were found to be proper conduct by the officer/s involved. Often these cases were the direct result of the complainant not understanding the methodology of the given case underlying the complaint.

Seven complaints were determined to be unfounded or no action was needed, as the investigations revealed no wrongdoing whatsoever. This is usually a consistent theme in the complaints received from citizens who might be disappointed in a case outcome, or the methodology used by investigators/officers assigned.

Three of the complaints were deemed insufficient evidence to complete the investigation. Uncooperative complainants once again accounted for the majority of these complaints. The complainants in the insufficient evidence category often ignored multiple attempts by investigators to follow up on their complaint.

The above numbers point to a consistent trend in the type of internal investigation complaints from 2006, but we did see a slight decline in the total number received between 2007 and 2008. There was also consistent numbers as to the number of complaints that were unfounded, or found to be proper conduct after investigations were completed.