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8-20-2026 Draft

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TOWN OF ALSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
TOWN OF ALSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
POLICE SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
August 20, 2026
Present

David Hogan, Selectman and Committee Chair

Mary Ann Wolf, Committee Member

Brian Hughes, Committee Member

Jesse Moore, Ambulance Chief

Ed Reller, Committee Member

Wendy Underwood, Police Officer/Officer in Charge

Rebecca Kelley, Committee Member

Gordon Kemp, Committee Member

Emily Sherwood, Committee Member - arrived after approval of the prior meeting minutes
Guest

Justin Sanctuary, Chief of Police, Town of Walpole
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Chair Hogan asked for comments or corrections to the minutes of the August 6, 2026 meeting.
Mary Ann Wolf noted that she had suggested amendments to the draft minutes.
Motion: Ed Reller moved to approve the August 6, 2026 meeting minutes as amended.
Second: Mary Ann Wolf.
Vote: Motion carried, with Gordon Kemp voting in opposition.
Discussion with Walpole Police Chief Justin Sanctuary
Chair Hogan welcomed Walpole Police Chief Justin Sanctuary and explained that the Committee had been 
formed to investigate options for the future of the Alstead Police Department.
The Committee asked Chief Sanctuary to discuss possible cooperative arrangements between Walpole and 
Alstead, including a shared Police Chief, contractual services, regionalization, supplemental coverage, or other 
potential models.
Chief Sanctuary stated that Walpole is not presently seeking to operate another municipality's police department.
He indicated, however, that Walpole could potentially consider a temporary contractual or supplemental 
arrangement if Alstead needed assistance while rebuilding or restructuring its department.
Chief Sanctuary did not recommend a shared-Chief arrangement. He noted that a Chief serving two 
municipalities would answer to two Selectboards and that each community has its own expectations, priorities, 
and approach to policing. He expressed a preference for police departments remaining directly accountable to 
the individual municipality they serve.
Chief Sanctuary noted that the Alstead Selectboard should speak directly with the Walpole Selectboard if 
combining town coverage is something Alstead wants to pursue.  He does not have the authority to commit to an
agreement.
Local Police Department Versus Outside Coverage
Chair Hogan reviewed the range of options being considered by the Committee, from continuing the existing 
Alstead Police Department with a newly hired Chief to contracting for outside services or relying primarily on the 
New Hampshire State Police.
Chief Sanctuary discussed the differences between local policing and State Police coverage.
He emphasized the value of local policing in addressing lower-level complaints, developing familiarity with 
residents and recurring situations, and intervening before problems escalate into more serious incidents. He 
noted that these benefits are difficult to quantify financially but can have significant value to a community.
Chief Sanctuary described local control, accountability, community familiarity, and transparency as significant 
advantages of maintaining a municipal police department.
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TOWN OF ALSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
He stated that State Police provide an important service and reliably respond to significant incidents, but their 
broader geographic responsibilities can limit their ability to address routine municipal complaints and provide the 
same level of community-oriented policing.
Sheriff's Department Coverage
The Committee discussed the possibility of contracting with the Cheshire County Sheriff's Department.
Chief Sanctuary encouraged the Committee to speak directly with municipalities currently using Sheriff's 
Department services and to compare the actual services received with their costs.
He stated that contracted Sheriff's coverage can provide useful dedicated patrol time, but the Town should 
closely examine:

The number of contracted hours;

When those hours would be provided;

What activities would be performed during the contracted period;

What happens when calls occur outside the contracted period;

Who handles follow-up investigations;

The cost relative to employing local officers; and

The degree of local control retained by the Town.
The Committee discussed hybrid arrangements in which municipalities rely upon more than one outside law-
enforcement agency for different functions.
Mutual Aid and Regional Cooperation
Chief Sanctuary discussed Walpole's reliance upon mutual aid relationships with neighboring law-enforcement 
agencies.
He explained that departments frequently assist one another across municipal boundaries. Although such 
assistance occasionally results in questions about one town's personnel working in another community, mutual 
aid reduces the number of officers each individual department would otherwise need to employ for backup and 
significant incidents.
Chief Sanctuary stated that Walpole values having Alstead officers available in the region and that maintaining 
capable neighboring police departments improves law-enforcement coverage for all surrounding communities.
The Committee discussed regionalization as a possible longer-term trend for municipal services.
Chief Sanctuary and Committee members noted that fire, EMS, animal-control, and other municipal services 
increasingly use cooperative or regional arrangements. Regional police arrangements were also discussed as a 
possible future model, although Chief Sanctuary indicated that Walpole is not presently seeking to take over 
Alstead's department.
Part-Time Administrative Police Chief
Chief Sanctuary suggested that Alstead seriously consider employing a part-time Police Chief whose primary 
responsibility would be departmental administration.
He stated that a retired New Hampshire law-enforcement officer could potentially provide administrative 
leadership while supporting Officer Underwood and allowing the Town's patrol officers to concentrate primarily 
on active law-enforcement duties.
The Committee discussed the increasing difficulty of finding a traditional "working Chief" who can simultaneously 
handle the growing administrative responsibilities of a Police Chief while also maintaining a substantial patrol and
investigative workload.
Chief Sanctuary stated that the administrative demands placed upon Chiefs have increased substantially and 
that the combination of Chief and patrol responsibilities can lead to excessive working hours and burnout.
He advised that small-town officers must be capable of handling a broad range of investigations and 
responsibilities and that finding a candidate who possesses both strong administrative skills and current street-
level investigative experience can be difficult.
Staffing and Workload Analysis
The Committee discussed the importance of determining the actual workload of the Alstead Police Department 
before selecting a future staffing model.
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TOWN OF ALSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Members discussed reviewing calls-for-service information in greater detail and evaluating whether the 
Department's workload supports:

Two full-time police officers;

One full-time and one part-time officer;

A part-time administrative Chief with separate patrol staffing; or

Some combination of local officers and contracted coverage.
The Committee noted that the appropriate staffing model should be based not simply upon the title of Officer in 
Charge or Police Chief, but upon the actual administrative, patrol, investigative, and community-policing 
workload of the Department.
The Committee also discussed how calls handled initially by an outside agency may later require follow-up by the
local Police Department, potentially resulting in duplication of workload.
Availability and Response Considerations
The Committee discussed the practical limitations of law-enforcement staffing throughout the region.
Members noted that references to "24-hour coverage" do not necessarily mean that an officer from a particular 
agency is immediately available within the municipality at all times. Mutual aid, overlapping responsibilities, 
geographic coverage areas, and officers already committed to other incidents can all affect actual response 
availability.
The Committee agreed that these operational considerations should be evaluated when comparing local, 
contracted, and State Police service models.
Future Review
The Committee will continue gathering information from law-enforcement agencies and municipalities using 
alternative policing arrangements.
Future analysis will include:

Review of Alstead Police Department calls-for-service and workload data;

Comparison of full-time, part-time, and hybrid staffing models;

Further evaluation of a part-time administrative Police Chief;

Costs and service levels associated with Sheriff's Department coverage;

Availability and limitations of State Police coverage;

Potential short-term supplemental assistance from neighboring departments; and

Longer-term opportunities for regional cooperation.
Adjournment
At approximately 6:00 p.m., Chair Hogan called for a motion to adjourn.
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded.
Vote: Motion carried, with one vote in opposition.
The meeting was adjourned.
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