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At this week's Rotary Club of Dover's Club meeting, Chief Breault of the Dover NH Police spoke on his department and what his staff and officers do everyday to make Dover safe and a city where residents and visitors are proud of. He said that he was grateful for Rotary’s support of many Dover undertakings, especially the Teen Center.
With the Rotary Club of Dover donation, it paid for the floors that means so much more than just having a floor, it provides a safe space for many kids and changes their lives. He is also grateful that Rotary supports organizations that provide recovery and suicide prevention and mental health care. These are vitally important in the community.
Chief Breault presented statistics on the Dover Police department. How many calls they take, how many traffic stops and tickets, and other policing work. He explained how the department moved to having some of the work done by civilians and that they now have 52 sworn police officers and would need 56 to be fully staffed. Crime in Dover has gone down year over year despite the rise in population. His focus is on community policing and data showing the results and engagement.
Police departments have taken on the mantle of being social workers. The officers provide well checks and work with the homeless populations to provide information on available social services. They also take the time to get to know everyone and explain to the public that they police behavior, not people. He also provided information on the drug related overdoses resulting in deaths and overall overdoses. These numbers have gone up from 2008 and are now going down. He is optimistic and thinks that lower number of deaths from overdose is the result of more people administering Narcan. The Police Department’s philosophy is that addiction is a disease and they provide support, not punishment.