Chief's Message

The Washington Police Department is happy to report that 2015 has been a relatively safe year in terms of crashes, assaults and other injuries. Unfortunately our remoteness and more family-oriented lifestyle has not kept us free of the effects of drug usage. While we are not seeing large drug arrests and possession here, we have determined and made arrests on many burglaries and thefts where people are supporting their habits by criminal activity.  

The complete list of police activity statistics follows, but it will show a decrease in the number of calls from 2014-15. This is attributed to many factors. I’m not sure that our “calls” from the outside have decreased, but our self-generated activity is down. We have had three or four major cases this year that have involved multi-state or multi-agency jurisdictions. These investigations involve a massive amount of investigation and documentation which prevents patrol time. Towards the end of the year Ofc. Corrigan’s new part-time job greatly restricted his time available for Washington Police services. The same holds true for our motor vehicle activity. One annoying trend that we have noticed this past year was the increase in requests for police assistance to intervene in family and personal relationship disputes. We hope this is just an anomaly and does not continue.

The police department tries to remain as active in the community as we can. We had a very successful Toys for Tots drive at the end of 2014. During the year we participated in a Drug Enforcement Administration Drug Take Back event and residents turned over 22 ½ pounds of old and unused medications for destruction.  Chief Marshall is at the school at least weekly to read to one of the classes.  Generous sponsors have continued to support the Student of the Month program for the 16th year. Our involvement in the NH Police Cadet Training Academy has continued. 2015 was an off year for the DARE classes, but Ofc. Puchtler is planning to do the program for the 4th-5th graders in 2016. We still provide many non-traditional police functions like EMS, firefighting, issuing burn permit and some occasional road maintenance and OHRV patrol. We also put our new cruiser on line at the end of 2015 with new, clearer graphics.

We have made the best possible use of grant funding and were able to provide an extra 180 hours of traffic enforcement patrol by applying for and being awarded two NH Highway Safety grants. Unfortunately, due to changes implemented by the federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration Washington’s opportunity to obtain grant funding has ended. The new rules require a community to have at least 45 reportable crashes a year.  As we are such a safe community it would take us about 7 years to meet that number. I attribute our low number of crashes and injury to proactive traffic enforcement. We do not write a lot of tickets; approximately 10% of the cars we stop result in a ticket or arrest and the rest are warning and education. As mentioned, it shows in the few number of crashes and fewer injuries (only 2 injured as of this report). Most of the crashes are not operator/operation related, they are the result of animal strikes; moose, bear and deer.  

If you have not subscribed to Nixle.com or the Police Department e-newsletter to get community message and emergency information I encourage you to do so soon. Communication is key to a safe and effective response in an emergency, to let the citizens know of community events and to prepare for potentially hazardous conditions. I use these tools regularly to keep residents updated. There is no cost to subscribe to either service so I encourage all to register and subscribe.

2016 will see some change in the Department. As mentioned previously, John Corrigan has been able to secure a full time position with an agency that will better provide for him and his family. Unfortunately this will prevent him from having the time to continue with the Washington Police Department. John put a lot of heart and effort, time and professionalism into serving as Washington Police Officer and he will be missed. On the positive side he will still serve the Town as a member of Fire and Rescue. We all wish John the best of luck with the new career.  

By now I’m sure you have heard that I will be retiring from my full time career at the end of March. More than half of my 33 years have been spent in Washington and I say with much emotion that I have had the best experience that a police chief could ever expect. The Boards of Selectmen have always treated me with a degree of respect and professionalism that many Chiefs are never afforded. I could list each and every Town Hall staffer, town board member, commission and committee member, municipal professional and volunteer to thank, but would forget someone and don’t want to do that. I especially need to recognize Ed, Larry, Bobby, Brian and Dave at DPW for going over and above whenever I or the police department ever needed help, something fixed or a special project done. They do it with great pride and spirit and I so appreciate that. I also need to thank all the staff, parents and students at the school for allowing me to be part of their program. We have such a special community here and I will miss it and all of you greatly. The time has come for me to focus my time to spending time with my wife and grandchildren and not the uniform. Most of all, the members of the police department and their families who sacrificed to serve you and support me for so many years deserve so much credit and thanks for their service- Brian Moser, Tim Puchtler and John Corrigan.

I’ll still be around, working part time and helping to transition the new Chief, and working with the Selectmen & Nan managing the website. So I thank you all for your kindness, support, friendship and respect. I will remember these 17 years for as long as I have the ability to remember.

Respectfully submitted,
Chief Steven I. Marshall   
603-495-3294