Here is how the Concord Teachers Union Paper describes the killing of a young man by Weare police Officers:
“The attorney general’s office yesterday released the names of five Weare police officers who it says were “involved” in a drug bust turned bloody shoot-out last summer, which left a man dead and is now at the center of a lengthy criminal investigation.”
Read it for yourself – with a grain of salt.
And they wonder why their paper won’t sell.
First of all, there was no “shoot out”.
It was a shoot – at.
The subject of the drug sting was unarmed and fleeing. And he had no drugs. He shot at no one and did not brandish a gun or any other weapon.
Weare has had a bad police department for years, starting at least with former Chief Miles Rigney who was “removed” from his lifetime perch by a warrant article to make his position elected, RSA 41:47. Poor Miles Rigney could not sue Weare because VOTERS dumped him.
That warrant article was written by – yours truly.
Without that warrant article and Rigney’s fear of running for the job he had, he would have taken advantage of the lifetime deal the puppet Police Commission gave him the night before Town Meeting as they disbanded so no one could fix the problem.
The “Sgt.” on the scene of this 2013 killing was one Joe Kelley, a liar, con man, and general low life punk.
I know this because I interviewed him when I was a Deering Selectman Kelley he applied for a job with us. He had just moved from Barnstable, Ma. where Kelley was awaiting trial for giving minors alcohol. A fact he failed to mention when applying for a job with The Deering Dept.
Unfortunately for Kelley I found out before he was able to finish training and we got rid of him without a suit.
I told Kelley what I told every applicant for a job as Deering Police officer: “If I find out you have some problem with anger management, or some past history that would preclude you from being a good officer, I will haunt you until the end of your career.”
Punks like Joe Kelley make bad cops and what happened in Weare was predictable. The sad part is that is has taken so long for Weare taxpayers to take matters into their own hands and demand a good department.
Punks like Joe Kelley have the benefit of an attorney general’s office that finds “loopholes” to let bad cops escape punishment.
Weare voters have a chance to get their police department out of the business of killing unarmed people, hiring punks, and countless lawsuits over nothing.
Throw the AG’s Report out and start fresh with a community-based department and hold the Selectmen accountable for keeping an eye on them.