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Sides Square Off Over Police Misconduct Disclosure
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Two Senate bills with public hearings Tuesday would take different approaches to police misconduct.
InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/category/dishonest-police/page/8/)
Laurie List’s Legacy: They are called Exculpatory Evidence Schedules now, but InDepthNH.org continues its investigative reporting on the secret list that contains the names of law enforcement officers in New Hampshire who have a history of dishonesty, excessive force or mental instability. Catch up on our reporting here.
Two Senate bills with public hearings Tuesday would take different approaches to police misconduct.
A judge on Friday delayed a status conference for 30 days so the news outlets suing Attorney General Gordon MacDonald to make public the Laurie list of dishonest police officers can continue to negotiate a possible settlement.
The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that the so-called Laurie List of dishonest police officers is not confidential, agreeing with Superior Court Judge Charles Temple’s April 2019 order, but don’t expect to see the more than 270 names on it released any time soon.
Solicitor General Dan Will argued to the state Supreme Court Wednesday that the Laurie List of untrustworthy law enforcement officers should remain secret because it is “imperfect” and was never intended to be made public.
The much-anticipated oral arguments that will determine if the unredacted Laurie List of dishonest law enforcement officers will finally be made public will be heard Wednesday with one disqualified justice and two Superior Court judges sitting in.
The state’s Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency Commission is done, having fulfilled its mission following close to 30 meetings held over the past three months.
All law enforcement-involved shootings in New Hampshire are investigated by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and the State Police Major Crimes Unit, but not in an open way that builds trust that police officers who take lives are being held accountable, according to Manchester attorney Larry Vogelman.
The state should have an independent commission to hear and investigate accusations of police misconduct, and sustained findings against officers should be made open to the public, according to a set of recommendations being proposed by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
New Hampshire’s secret list of police officers who have been disciplined for dishonesty or excessive force problems should be open and all police personnel records should be made public, according to the ACLU-NH’s Gilles Bissonnette.