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Police from seven southern New Hampshire communities are reporting a decline in arrests during the months of March and April compared to the same time last year.
Police say the decline is the result of changes in procedures which sought to limit arrests in favor of court summonses for most misdemeanor crimes, in an effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 contamination and indirectly to limit jail populations. Additionally, COVID-19-related closures of schools and businesses, and decreased road traffic have also resulted in less criminal activity, they said.
But some crimes, like domestic violence, appear to be on the rise.
Manchester Police saw arrests in March decline from 410 last year to 317 this year (-22.68%), and April arrests dropped from 470 to 219 (-53.40%).
In Nashua, arrests dropped from 401 in March 2019 to 176 last March (-56.11%), and 376 in April 2019 to 112 (-70.21%) this year. That’s less than half the arrests they conducted the year prior.
State Police numbers were requested, but still under legal review by press time.
Across the board, police departments in Salem, Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Pelham and Hudson each saw arrests decline in March and April compared to last year. Offense reports also went down for most departments, the only exceptions being an increase in March in Hudson and Pelham.
Overall, the month of April, the first full month the state has lived under stay-at-home orders, has seen some of the sharpest declines in arrests.
In Salem, arrests dropped from 141 in April 2019 to just 29 this year. Hudson fell from 102 to 23, Derry fell from 96 to 61, and smaller towns like Pelham and Windham fell from the mid-20s to single digits.
“That’s a major drop for us,” Hudson Police Capt. Tad Dionne said, referring to their April arrest numbers.
A few towns, like Londonderry and Pelham also noticed decreases in motor vehicle accidents. Londonderry saw crashes drop from 30 in April 2019 to 12 last month. Pelham saw a decline of 16 crashes to six during the same month.
Why the sudden drop in arrests, offenses and accidents?
“I think there’s a combination of reasons,” Londonderry Police Capt. Patrick Cheetham said.
For one, he said the department has noted a significant reduction in vehicle traffic during the stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of non-essential businesses.
But those closures, Cheetham said, also mean fewer opportunities for crimes to be committed in the first place. The school district alone, which has a student body of around 3,000, usually generates a certain number of calls for police, for example, he said. But those have disappeared while students study from home.
“Other types of crimes like thefts from stores and things along those lines, it’s perhaps a little bit harder to commit,” Cheetham said.
While he was hesitant to say crime itself is happening less overall, he said reported crimes are down. Members of the public can still report crimes, but are encouraged to do so over the phone rather than in person at the police station.
Salem Deputy Chief Joel Dolan said the closure of the southern border town’s usually busy retail sector has had a noticeable impact.
“Salem typically has a high rate of shoplifting calls,” Dolan said “Due to the closure of most retail, these calls have dropped significantly and have led to a reduction in calls and arrests.”
Like many departments, Londonderry altered its protocols in mid-March to limit the amount of human interaction that generally results from custodial arrests — from the booking process to detainment in holding cells and ultimately awaiting court dates in county jail.
To that end, the Londonderry prosecutor’s office issued some guidelines for officers to use their best judgment when deciding who needed to be brought into custody and who didn’t, suggesting they issue court summons for most misdemeanor crimes.
“We are trying to release people on scene with greater frequency than we normally would,” Cheetham said.
Even in some cases where they encounter a person who has repeatedly dodged court dates and have active electronic bench warrants out, Cheetham said they are opting to reschedule court dates and send the people on their way.
The department will continue this practice during the first phase of the state’s reopening, according to the internal department documents outlining the procedures.
Similar protocols have been implemented in other southern tier departments like Salem and Windham. While Hudson has no written guidelines, they are encouraging officers to use their discretion when it comes to limiting custodial arrests.
Departments are also using faster ways to process and bail people outside of their police stations, to prevent the need to use additional sanitizing resources and protective gear.
“We are attempting to limit bringing an arrestee into the station,” said Windham Police Capt. Michael Caron. “We are bailing from the parking lot as needed, but if an individual is going to be held then they are brought into the station and processed accordingly and using PPE gear as needed.”
In Salem, Dolan said they are processing arrested individuals through their booking room, but they are decontaminating the room after each arrest and requiring arrestees to wear PPE gear. Arrestees are then released through the sally port, which is a secure, controlled entryway, in order to keep them segregated from the main part of the building, Dolan said.
While the numbers appear to show criminal activity and arrests are down overall, domestic violence crimes appear to be rising.
“Some crimes which we have seen an uptick in require a physical arrest, such as crimes involving domestic violence,” Dolan said.
In Hudson, Dionne said domestic disturbance calls rose slightly (by 6 percent) in March compared to last year, and then skyrocketed (by 45 percent) in April.
Cases of restraining order violations, stalking, domestic violence and violent felonies are still resulting in arrests, for the most part.
Lt. Anne Perriello of the Pelham Police Department said their agency has continued to respond to all emergency calls, and like many departments, are asking citizens to file reports over the phone. But also like other departments, they want to assure the public that they are still out their doing their jobs.
“Although we have implemented some changes to the way we are forced to police right now, our level of service has not changed. We are still open 24/7 and officers are here to assist you when needed,” Perriello said.
Contact Ryan Lessard at ryanlessard@gmail.com
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