State. Rep Aylward: Wow! What a Day in Concord, and Beyond. . .

Lighten Up!

Do you know why owls are smarter than chickens?
(Answer is at the bottom of the article)

Murder and Mayhem, Oh My!
VIOLENT CRIME IN DANBURY

At the NH State Police Website, one can peruse crime statistics by town. https://crimestats.dos.nh.gov/...

So I did, and guess what! I’m happy to report that the NHSP reports ZERO violent crime arrests for Danbury from 2022 through 2024, which include:

MURDER; AGGRAVATED ASSAULT; ROBBERY and VIOLENT SEX OFFENSES - O

In 2024, DRUG RELATED ARRESTS in Danbury were:

1. DRUG/NARCOTIC VIOLATIONS: Crimes: 1
2. DRUG/NARCOTIC VIOLATION ARRESTS:Arrests: 0
3. DRUG SEIZURES: Incidents Involving Drug Seizures: 1
4. DRUG EQUIPMENT VIOLATIONS: Crimes: 0
5. DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE ARRESTS: Arrests: 0
6. OTHER CRIMES WHERE OFFENDER USED DRUGS OR ALCOHOL: Crimes: 0
   

There were indeed a few reports of other types of crimes, and readers are encouraged to view those statistics themselves.

GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY IN DANBURY

With all the talk of ‘government efficiency’ at the federal and state levels, is it not time for the Town of Danbury Selectmen and Budget Committee to take a deep dive into the murky waters of various department’s use, or possible abuse and waste of taxpayer funds (whether intentional or unintentional) due to lack of empirical data?

Whereas we have Chief Kelby to thank for bringing the Danbury Police Department into compliance with various police standards as reported in the Annual Report, given what appears to be extremely low crime statistics, I am suspicious as to why there was ANY talk of a ‘full time chief, department, or new police palace’?

The next time you encounter someone claiming that Danbury is a crime-ridden town, needs a full time chief, department, or new police station — ask them to prove it, statistically-speaking!

And with bail reform on the horizon, and about which I voted in favor as a state representative, there will be far fewer ‘catch and release’ incidents contributing to crime statistics!

The below White Paper analysis provides insight and guidance for staffing and operating a police department. The Selectmen have a duty to taxpayers and other citizens to evaluate and apply empirical data for informed, public safety decision-making, and to not just rely on any chief (or person) strongly advocating for having, or increasing the size of the department, especially in small, rural communities with low crime statistics and extremely high property taxes! This would also be true for fire and highway departments.

Unless and until this work is actually accomplished, there must be no ‘flying blind’ warrant article proposing a bond project, or appropriations that would cause taxpayers to become unnecessarily stressed, or pose an unwarranted financial burden on taxpayers!

Excerpt from : ICMA Center for Public Safety Management

https://icma.org/sites/default...

Perhaps when it comes to increasing or decreasing the size of a police department, the mangers responsible for these decisions should look first at the quantity and quality of calls for services (CFS) actually being handled by the department, as well as how the officers are allocated and deployed in order to meet peak service demands.

Communities need to consider many important issues when determining appropriate police staffing levels. The data presented here are rarely used in contemporary police management, but are far better than the staffing allocation and deployment approaches currently in use.

City, town, and department officials need to use reliable data to make these important staffing decisions.
Relying on antiquated and unreliable methods to make one of the most financially important and critical decisions with respect to the quality of life and safety of a community is ill-advised.

Looking at other approaches is a good start. However, police departments must embrace the use of more sophisticated data analysis and must identify benchmarks to evaluate staffing decisions.

The argument made here is that at least three benchmarks could be identified easily and then be used to evaluate staffing allocation and deployment. How many officers are assigned to patrol? What is the workload level of those officers on patrol? How much time is expended handling a CFS? Looking at these three measures will shed important light on how many officers a community needs and whether or not they are being deployed efficiently

It's a bird! It's a plane! No. . .it's Senator Dan Innis!

An unassuming, Mr. Peabody-looking fellow by day, by night, Senator Dan Innis takes to his keyboard and tells it like it is, no holds barred! I invite readers to see Senator Innis in action in this NH Journal article from April 7th that he authored relative to HB 123.

https://nhjournal.com/innis-out-of-state-companies-are-exploiting-nhs-timber-tax/

Hearing HB 123 in the Municipal and County Government Committee, members learned about carbon sequestration and the tax loophole the bill aimed to fix, specifically, that of a "carbon credit subsidy for left-wing ESG factories" (i.e. green energy companies) as Innis describes it. The bill, with amendment, passed out of committee 18-0, in favor of Ought to Pass.

A lot of hullabaloo, protesting, and other distractions descended upon the State House prior to a vote, however, the House adopted the committee report, and the bill was ultimately referred to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

As a proud Republican, I supported the bill both in committee and in the House, this to allow municipalities to properly tax timber, to stop out-of-state companies from profiting off the backs of Granite Staters, that will in turn, lower property taxes.

For those readers not old enough to remember, according to Wikipedia "Mr. Peabody is an anthropomorphic cartoon dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends,who is the smartest being in existence, having graduated from Harvard when he was 3 years old."

Lighten Up! answer: Have you ever seen Kentucky Fried Owl?

Deborah Aylward is a resident of Danbury, NH, a state law-maker, and citizen activist.