February 2024 NHPA Updates
Brothers and sisters,
The NHPA has continued to represent and advocate for you behind the scenes and at the State House. Our work on your behalf continues.
We held our monthly in person meeting last Tuesday February 20th in Salem. Legislative topics included the recent hearing on Qualified Immunity which went well for law enforcement. An NHPA representative testified and there was a good turnout overall speaking against the bill which would abolish Qualified Immunity in New Hampshire. In fact, there was overwhelming opposition to the bill in the hearing. While the effort to prevent changes to current law seems to be going well again this year, we need to remain vigilant as qualified immunity will likely continue to be threatened.
The NHPA also continues to closely monitor a number of other bills and subjects affecting us including retirement, police details, the misconduct committee, and first responder mental health.
The President of the NH Group II Retirement Coalition was present again to speak about their current position regarding their possible lawsuit.
The remainder of the meeting was spent discussing housekeeping topics such as police memorial week and scholarships.
As always, feel free to contact a board member if you have any questions, thoughts, or are interested in getting more involved. Involvement is vital in an association like ours.
Take Care and stay safe!
Mike Geha
President, NHPA
October 2023 NHPA Updates
Brothers and Sisters,
The NHPA board met on Tuesday October 17, 2023 for their monthly meeting. During the meeting, the minutes from the May 2023 meeting were adopted. The NHPA continues to be very active, and here is a quick summary of what we have been up to the past few months.
In June, we held our annual golf tournament in lieu of our meeting, which went well. In July we met specifically to discuss the property owned by NHPA, It was decided that we take August off, and in September, Kelly Ayotte was our guest and she spoke and answered questions regarding her upcoming run for NH state Governor. Below are the topics discussed at this months meeting:
In attendance: President Michael Geha of the Salem Police Department, Vice President Timon Aikawa of the Londonderry Police Department, Treasurer John Cinelli of Nashua Police Department, Secretary Frank Swirko of NH Parole and Probation, Patrick Cheetam of the Londonderry Police Department, Kyle Daley and Justin Breton of the Manchester Police Department, Jeff Mullaney of the UNH Police Department, Joshua Quigley of the NH State Police, Ken Chamberlain retired from the Manchester Police Department, Attorney Jake Krupski, and our media advisor Scott Spradling.
Joining Remotely: Thomas Prasol of Demers and Prasol Inc.
1. The meeting was called to order at 1855 hrs.
2. Thomas Prasol discussed the status of the Group II retirement committee which is discussing the reinstatement of certain items taken away from the "middle tier" in 2012 changes.
3. Attorney Krupski gave a legal update. Specifically, he discussed the Exculpatory Evidence Schedule or EES (previously known as the" Lorrie List".
4. We discussed all of the political candidates who are reaching out to us for endorsements and planned how we would be handling meetings with them this year.
5. Ken Chamberlain spoke about the golf tournament, trips to Washington DC for the annual Police Memorial Week, and other housekeeping and items to consider for these events moving forward,
6. The board spent a considerable amount of time discussing the retirement topic, challenges and the best strategy moving forward to continue advocating for members.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 2030 hrs.
The NHPA board meets at various locations on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. If anyone is interested in attending or getting more involved in the work that NHPA does, please feel free to contact a board member and/or attend a meeting. Also, please feel free to contact board members with any thoughts, questions, and concerns anytime. nhpasecretary1@gmail.com
There is power in numbers and the more educated we all are about the NHPA, the stronger we will be.