I recently rode along with Officer Dave Suckling of the Alexandria police department to better understand what he sees during a day’s work. He did traffic stops for motor vehicle violations, responded to a “BOLO” (Be On the Lookout) for a vehicle fleeing a hit-and-run accident, and patrolled the town’s neighborhoods, pointing out, among other things, “drug houses” where the drugs killing our men, women, and children are stockpiled.
He knows most of the people in town; building good relationships is key to law enforcement, especially in the many small towns that make up rural New Hampshire.
Ultimately, he said, his job was about communicating and working with people to find a solution to the problem at hand.
He shared some of his experiences: giving CPR to a heart attack victim; delivering a baby who arrived early; hostage negotiations to keep a distraught partner from killing a spouse; taking children from their parents pursuant to legal action by the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF); delivering news of the death of a loved one. He talked about the honor of service to the community, about helping people learn to make better choices, about getting to know the families and businesses and school children who look to him when there’s no one else to turn to, or when a situation has become a crisis.
He is worried that some N.H. legislators are discussing stripping our police of “qualified immunity” – the legal protection from being sued for lawful actions taken while on duty. They wrongly believe qualified immunity allows our police to escape accountability for their actions. But it’s called “qualified immunity” because if an officer violates department policy or acceptable standards of conduct while on duty or off, they are no longer “qualified” for that immunity, and are subject to departmental discipline, civil liability, and criminal prosecution.
I recently attended the retirements of two chiefs of police who spent decades on the job. I thanked them for their service, for getting up every day, putting on a bullet-proof vest and the tools to do the job, not knowing whether they might have to save a life, take a life, or sacrifice their life, as they stand between our families and the purveyors of evil in our society. Then I thanked their wives and children, who spent years watching them walk out the door, never knowing if they’d be coming home that night.
As social unrest and violence continue in other parts of the country, and disrespect and aggression is visited against law enforcement by rogue groups and elected officials, I am honored to express my support for the men and women of New Hampshire law enforcement. We don’t defund our police, we defend them. We don’t condone lawlessness, we stop it. We don’t destroy a profession because of a few bad actors. We hold them accountable.
“Communicating and working with people to find a solution to the problem at hand” might be something we should all keep in mind as we go about our daily lives. We might also want to say “Thank you!” to our men and women in blue who put their lives on the line for us every time they walk out the front door, and to the families who wait anxiously for them to come home.
(Bob Giuda of Warren represents District 2 in the New Hampshire Senate.)