In a bid to keep Frank Jones from becoming Salisbury's police chief, nearly 200 town residents have signed a petition opposing his appointment.

Jones's appointment has been a subject of controversy in recent weeks. Salisbury selectmen offered Jones the part-time chief position July 23, one day before Jones was arrested in Meredith on a charge of simple assault against his wife. After the arrest, Jones's wife sent the police a letter stating that she wasn't assaulted, and Laconia District Court Judge David Huot later dismissed the charge.

Salisbury Selectman Mike Dipre recently told the Monitor that board members would review the matter with the town's counsel. "If there are no issues, we're going to hire him," Dipre, the chairman of the board of selectmen, said last week.

Many Salisbury residents, however, don't want Jones to assume the position. Ken Ross-Raymond, a former selectman, said he delivered the petition yesterday to Margaret Warren, the board of selectmen's administrative assistant. Ross-Raymond said he asked Warren to pass the document to the selectmen. In addition, he sent a copy of the petition to the town's attorney.

"We simply asked our selectmen not to go forward with hiring Frank Jones, and if they have, to terminate his employment and start the search for an appropriate candidate," Ross-Raymond said.

Altogether, 183 residents signed the petition, Ross-Raymond said. "That represents about 95 percent of the people that were asked," he said. Ross-Raymond said several residents declined to sign because they "have to work closely with the selectmen," and several others "did agree with what we're trying to do but didn't want to sign."

Salisbury has a population of about 1,300, according to the U.S. Census. About 500 town residents voted in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

Members of the board of selectmen could not be reached yesterday. They are due to hold a non-public meeting on the issue today.

The police chief position became vacant after Kevin Wyman left in January for a full-time position as a sergeant in Boscawen. A committee set up by the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office aided the town with the selection process. After reviewing applications, the committee suggested Dan Ball, who was then a part-time officer for the town.

Jones, 49, submitted his application after the committee completed its interviews. The selectmen chose Jones over Ball, who has since resigned from his position with the town.

This week, the sheriff's office captain who organized the committee to help choose a police chief said he had expressed concerns about Jones before the selectmen offered Jones the position.

At a selectmen's meeting last week, Dipre said that Capt. Craig Saltmarsh of the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office had praised Jones's qualifications. Saltmarsh said he told Dipre that Jones was qualified. But he had made those comments, Saltmarsh told the Monitor, before conducting a background check.

Dipre didn't mention those concerns at last week's selectmen's meeting. In response to a question about whether Jones had passed the background check, Dipre said, "as far as we're concerned, he did."

The details of the background check remain unclear: Saltmarsh told the Monitor that he couldn't provide details about what he discovered.

The Monitor requested documents regarding the search from the Merrimack County Attorney's Office under the Right-to-Know Law. Assistant County Attorney George Stewart provided some public records, but told the Monitor that he couldn't release the whole file.

A letter that Saltmarsh wrote to the selectmen about the background check has not been released.

Jones has decades of law enforcement experience, including more than two decades of work for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and part-time work for the Belknap County Sheriff's Office and the Litchfield Police Department. (next page »)