Concord Police Overtime Inches Up In Wake Of Heights Homicide Case

CONCORD, NH — It has been four weeks since the bodies of a retired couple were found killed on a trail in the eastern part of the city, leading to increased police safety in recreation areas and investigatory expenses, and with them, overtime, too.

The overtime budget for the Concord Police Department, abnormally high already due to some vacancies, has been running around $25,000 to $26,000 per week, about 500 hours. But those figures have steadily increased by hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars during the past few weeks as detectives search for clues in the Stephen and Djeswende Reid killings case and step-up patrols of dozens of city trails and recreational areas.

The city does not have an exact breakdown of overtime increases due to the case. But City Manager Tom Aspell agreed it was safe to assume increases in the police overtime budget from the week the couple went missing to last week, increases of between $3,000 to $10,500 and 100 to 200 hours per week, could be attributed to the killings and patrols.

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The city, however, is prepared for unexpected costs like police, fire, and general services overtime pay or costs associated with weather events and other unplanned expenses. About $100,000 each year is put aside by the city council in a contingency fund — but it has not been tapped in a long time.

“We haven’t had to spend any of (the contingency funds) in years and years and years,” he said.

There are also surpluses that roll over and are banked throughout the year by the city in small amounts, here and there, in various accounts and line items that are not completely spent but could be used later.

At the same time, Aspell and city department heads look at overall compensation and not just wages and overtime. When positions are vacant, there is savings with health care and benefits even if another employee earns overtime hours. Although there are “costs when (employees) retire, due to severance costs,” he said. At the same time, the city seldom has overlapped employees between those who leave and new ones hired.

“If an employee leaves in a month,” Aspell said, “we (often) don’t immediately hire a replacement. So there is a gap of time and savings associated with it, too.”

Added Patrols, Safety

Concord’s trail system officially has 31 systems, which does not include walking paths in parks.

Most are short jaunts. But others are miles in length. The trails are spread out all over the city. Some even venture into other communities like Boscawen and Hopkinton.

The trail system, Aspell noted, is quite popular.

“Whenever you are on them, you feel like you are out in the country,” he said. “You can get out into the woods … there are not a lot of people around … it’s a special time. But you want to feel safe, too.”

Aspell said there have been some issues with homeless people and activity on the trails. Those issues though were not usually about safety but “things that were trashed.” In the fiscal year 2023 budget, the city hopes to find a part-time trail ranger, he said, to deal with some of the issues as well as keep track of issues along the trails like fallen trees and access.

Normally, bike officers are out and about in the community at this time of the year. Now, with the deaths of the Reids, they are out in full force. Many of the trails, Aspell said, were in “outlying areas” and, with the department pretty close to full staff, there was a greater ability for officers to get to the areas “on a more regular basis.”

As well, after the coronavirus pandemic, activity on the trails “exploded,” he said. And that activity remains today even though the pandemic has waned.

“It just makes sense to have more police out there,” Aspell said.

Meeting With Police, Others Regularly

Aspell said he and Chief Brad Osgood meet on a weekly basis to address any issues in the department, including finances.

Now that it is budget season, there is a lot going on.

Aspell said Osgood calculates things out — “and he’s excellent with numbers,” so he was not concerned the department would be able to balance everything out with the expanded work and not have to go back to the councilors to request increased taxes. Even if the investigation drags on, something Aspell and everyone else hopes does not occur, there would be resources to pay for the investigation and extra patrols.

Osgood, too, along with most city employees in leadership, were looking for grants, ways to find savings, and surpluses, too.

“We’ll take a look at all that and go over it (soon),” he said. “(Osgood) hasn’t yet come to me but, hypothetically, he’ll get authorization from me to move things ahead … I am not concerned (about not having the finances) but it is important to keep the council and public aware.”

Being down the officers and having to deal with “the constant churn” of retirements has made the extra assistance the department has received from other organizations like the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Department very helpful, Aspell said. The county and city meet regularly and things were very cooperative, he said.

“The extra help has been great,” Aspell said. “It wasn’t like we had to twist anybody’s arm … the sheriff’s office was all over it … they always want to work with us and we try to help them out, too.”

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