NH police budget and employment data (Rockingham County) (Seabrook Police Department)

Good afternoon Beryl Lipton,

My office represents the Town of Seabrook. The Town received your request for records sufficient to show certain information regarding the Town of Seabrook Police Department's budget, funding, hiring, and employment. The Town is in the process of reviewing your request, compiling responsive records, and determining whether any of the statutorily-mandated exemptions prohibit the Town from disclosing such records.

At this time, I anticipate that the Town will be able to make responsive records available for inspection by October 12, 2021. If the Town is able to make records available for inspection sooner, or if the Town needs additional time to process this request, I will let you know.

Thank you for your patience,

Brendan

Brendan A. O'Donnell, Esq.
Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC
164 N.H. Route 25
The Towle House, Unit 2
Meredith, New Hampshire 03253
Phone: 603-279-4158

**CELEBRATING 30+ YEARS OF SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS**
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The information in this transmission contains information from the law firm of DONAHUE, TUCKER & CIANDELLA, PLLC which is privileged and confidential. It is intended to be used for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents is prohibited. If you receive this transmission in error, please notify us by telephone at (603) 778-0686 so that we can take appropriate steps to protect confidentiality and/or attorney-client privilege of this information. Thank you.

October 12, 2021

Muckrock News
Dept MR 118943
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

Dear Beryl Lipton:

This office represents the Town of Seabrook (the "Town"). The purpose of this letter is to respond to your request (see attached) to the Town for governmental records dated September 9, 2021.

In particular, you requested the following:

BUDGET and FUNDING DATA - Records sufficient to show funding for municipal law enforcement offices and activities for the years 200 through 2020.

If possible, please provide the itemized budget allocated for public safety and police department activities for each year, as well as records sufficient to show any additional funding received through other means, including but not limited to:

* Funds for capital expenditures

* Grants

* Donations

HIRING and EMPLOYMENT DATA - Records sufficient to show the following data regarding police department employment for the years 2000 through 2020.

* The number of employed law enforcement officers (as defined by RSA 105-D:1). Please provide the date on which the provided numbers were accurate.

* Annual demographic information (age, race, gender) of law enforcement officers employed by this municipality.

* Annual demographic information (age, race, gender) of any individual employed in a position of leadership within this municipality's public safety or law enforcement department.

The Town takes its obligations under RSA chapter 91-A seriously, and this obligation includes reviewing all requested records to ensure that all records or information that the Town is required by law to withhold from disclosure is properly withheld or redacted.

Scope of New Hampshire's Right-to-know law:

RSA 91-A:4, I, provides: "Every citizen during the regular or business hours of all public bodies or agencies, and on the regular business premises of such public bodies or agencies, has the right to inspect all governmental records in the possession, custody, or control of such public bodies or agencies, including minutes of meetings of the public bodies, and to copy and make memoranda or abstracts of the records or minutes so inspected, except as otherwise prohibited by statute or RSA 91-A:5." (Emphases added.) Thus, the Town is only obligated to make governmental records available for your inspection.

Furthermore, under RSA chapter 91-A, the Town has no obligation to compile information from numerous sources, to compile records in the format requested, or to create records. See Brent v. Paquette, 132 N.H. 415, 426 (1989); Hawkins, 147 N.H. at 379.

Responsive Records:

The Town's Annual Reports are records sufficient to show most of the information that you are seeking. Each Town Annual Report identifies for that year the Town's line-item budget for the police department, any grants, each police department employee, and the salary of each police department employee. The Town's Annual Reports for 2013 through 2020 are available online on the Town's website: https://seabrooknh.info/town-departments/town-manager/town-reports/ .

Physical copies of the Town's Annual Reports from 2000 through 2012 are available for inspection during regular business hours at the Town Clerk's Office, 99 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, NH 03874. You may contact the Town Clerk's Office directly to set up a date and time to inspect the Town's historic Annual Reports. If you choose to make copies, you will be charged the actual cost of providing that copy. See RSA 91-A:4, IV(d).

Although the Town has no obligation to create new electronic records, I understand that it may be more convenient for you to view electronic copies of records. My understanding is that the University of New Hampshire (which is not affiliated with the Town of Seabrook) has publicly available electronic copies of annual reports for all municipalities in the State of New Hampshire, which may include the Town's Annual Reports for 2000 through 2012. See https://scholars.unh.edu/nh_town_reports/

However, I note that the Town's Annual reports do not include annual demographic information of police department employees or police department leadership. The Town does not have any governmental records that track demographic information of police department employees.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Brendan Avery O'Donnell, Esq.

Brendan A. O'Donnell, Esq.
Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC
164 N.H. Route 25
The Towle House, Unit 2
Meredith, New Hampshire 03253
Phone: 603-279-4158

**CELEBRATING 30+ YEARS OF SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS**
[e-mail footer]
The information in this transmission contains information from the law firm of DONAHUE, TUCKER & CIANDELLA, PLLC which is privileged and confidential. It is intended to be used for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents is prohibited. If you receive this transmission in error, please notify us by telephone at (603) 778-0686 so that we can take appropriate steps to protect confidentiality and/or attorney-client privilege of this information. Thank you.

Good morning,