For someone about to take over a police department some town residents wanted to disband in the last year, Mike Labrecque seems relatively unfazed.
Labrecque, who will become the part-time Canterbury police chief at the beginning of August, is instead focused on winning back the trust of the community. He wants to improve officer training, revamp police policies and even get more fashionable uniforms.
In an interview Thursday, Labrecque said he’s dedicated to improving a police department that has been at the center of controversy for the past year. Problems within the Canterbury Police Department began after its former chief was arrested on sex assault charges and its remaining officers were accused by town residents of being incompetent and unprofessional.
“I’m looking forward to working with the officers and moving forward with their careers,” Labrecque said. Canterbury Sgt. Ernie Beaulieu will be going to Field Training Officer (FTO) training in the next two weeks, and the department as a whole will be consulting with other towns to combine training opportunities.
Labrecque will also look to those other towns for department policy models that can be adapted to fit (and be followed) in Canterbury.
Within the community itself, the incoming chief said he wants the police department to gain trust and respect. Labrecque has plans for an open house, and he also will ask everyone in the department – including himself – to regularly poke their heads into municipal meetings, the schools and local businesses.
“Hopefully the officers can get out there and start talking to people,” he said. “You just have to reach out so they start getting that trust, because we’ve got to earn that.”
And when they’re out there, the Canterbury officers will look a little different. Labrecque has some fashion upgrades in mind for the department’s uniforms.
“It’s just kind of mismatched,” Labrecque said of the current “class C” special operations-type cargo pants and the “class B” dress-like shirts. “It’s basically just changing the pants.”
The Manchester native will remain in his old uniform as a lieutenant for the Hooksett Police Department until July 29, and then three days later, he will start working part-time, or 32 hours a week, in Canterbury. Labrecque will earn an annual salary of $54,000, and the 48-year-old will also begin collecting his state retirement system pension when he officially retires and starts his new job on Aug. 1.
The amount of Labrecque’s pension payments are not yet available from the New Hampshire Retirement System, though Labrecque said he did stop by their office Thursday.
“I’m not tired,” he explained. After 22 years in law enforcement in Bow, the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and Hooksett, Labrecque said, “I still like the job.”
But, he added, his new chief position pays significantly less than the $79,000 he earns as a Hooksett lieutenant.
Even in looking at full-time chief positions, he said, he still would make less. He said, for example, that Loudon was offering $70,000 when they recently advertised for a full-time chief.
And while it’s not all about money, Labrecque said he still wanted to work five to eight years before moving “somewhere warmer,” and he has a wife and two kids – ages 16 and 20 – to consider in the meantime. Which is why he’s planning to begin collecting his pension with his new part-time job.
The practice, often referred to as “double-dipping,” occurs when towns hire a part-time retired government employee and that employee gets a state pension and health benefits. The town hiring the part-time employee avoids making a contribution to the retirement system, while other towns are left to pay more to make up the gap in the $4 billion unfunded liability.
Canterbury has a two-year contract with Labrecque, said Town Administrator Ken Folsom, and the town may consider a full-time chief after that.
Webster is in a similar position after announcing last week the town plans to hire a part-time chief for two or three years, and then switch to full-time.
“In the long run, it’s really not a big problem,” Labrecque said. “I’m sure if every department said they were going to hire part-time chiefs, I’m sure that would be a huge drain.”
Labrecque has been considering a chief position ever since he graduated from New Hampshire Technical Institute with his associate’s degree in criminal justice two years ago.
“It was kind of a new experience, to try it, to see where it’ll go,” he said.
He got the idea when the Hooksett Police Department was under review for “personality conflicts” between officers five years ago, and when the reviewing consultant suggested Labrecque take steps to qualify for the leadership position.
Labrecque did so, and he also took with him experience of being at a police department going through a challenging time. Though he stayed on the fringes of the conflict and “did his job,” he got to see how town residents and a police department responded to internal problems.
That experience will likely serve Labrecque well in his new job. For the past 11 months, the Canterbury Police Department has been scrutinized after its former chief, John Laroche, was arrested on sexual assault charges stemming from 16 years ago when a woman alleged he forced her to do various sexual acts while he was a Boscawen police officer and she was a 16-year-old cadet. A jury found Laroche not guilty of all charges this summer.
Though Laroche was initially put on unpaid administrative leave last August at his request and eventually resigned in January, the Canterbury Police Department continued to come under fire from town residents for perceived lack of professionalism and incompetence.
A petition circulated last fall to disband the department, and the question was voted on during town meeting in March, though it only received one “yes” vote.
Instead, the Canterbury select board decided to ask the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office to do a review of the department. The report, which was presented at town meeting, cited lack of leadership, officers not following policies and procedures, inadequate training and understaffing. Sheriff’s Office Captain Todd Corey recommended Canterbury hire a part-time police chief and keep its three existing officers.
With Labrecque now in place – he said his Hooksett office is already empty – the new chief is looking forward.
“You can’t change the past,” Labrecque said. “You just have to look forward to the future.”
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)