Public Safety in Chester, NH
This is a first for RobbiLeaks. The below leak and #receipts were sent to RobbiLeaks via our website. The author seems to understand that assertions must be supported by #receipts and has clearly done so. While RobbiLeaks has not investigated these claims, we have read the Leak, as well as the supporting #receipts. Well done, Chester Grok. RobbiLeaks hopes that publication on our website will help.
Public Safety in Chester, NH
by Chester Grok
Watching selectboard meetings for the last few years in the small town of Chester, New Hampshire, you would never know anything was wrong with the fire and police departments in the small town. While there have been some scandals that have caused uproar in town, public safety never seemed to be the focus. When the fire and police chiefs speak during public meetings, they consistently reaffirm staffing issues are just part of a larger trend affecting all departments in the area. It appears the taxpayers have been subjected to a coordinated display of theater by those who were elected to oversee the business of the town.
One return select board member told the public during his re-election video, he would like to be liaison to the police or fire department, because they don’t need much oversight and basically run themselves. It would seem everything is just fine in Chester. Why else would the select board change their meetings from weekly, to bi-weekly, unless they felt they were able to provide oversight by meeting twice a month? Except, this is not what the selectboard was told in two investigations into the Chester departments. Those investigations are what I’d like to talk about, and don’t take my word for it. Anyone who lives in Chester needs to read these documents over several times and start asking yourself questions. If you don’t live in town, I think it’s just as important to read this over as a warning of what happens when there is no oversight and no transparency.
“Transparency”
The word is used by everyone running for office in Chester, knowing it appeals to the residents who’ve questioned why hours are spent in non-public sessions. But transparency has eluded residents repeatedly while history seems to repeat itself. In fact, according to Municipal Resources Incorporated (MRI), Chester lost fifteen employees from the police and fire departments between 2018 and 2020. Investigations occurred in 2020 and 2022 by two different firms, and a NH Department of Labor (DOL) investigation into whistleblower retaliation occurred in 2022, which characterized the fire department as a “hostile work environment.” These investigations identified leadership in the respective departments as the main problem, so why is the same leadership employed in town, and why hasn’t there been any mention of this by the Chester Selectboard? I’ve included the two investigations, DOL decision, meeting minutes, Facebook posts, and other evidence to back up this story.
Fire Department
While researching this case, I was told several parents posted on a Chester Facebook group concern about a fire alarm at the school during a morning drop-off in 2022. If you live in Chester, you know the fire house sits on the same property as the school. When the fire alarm was triggered at the school, parents sat and waited to drop off their children and started posting on Facebook regarding the lack of response at the fire house they could see from their cars. While it’s normal for small towns to depend on mutual aid, it’s not normal during the regular business hours they are supposedly staffed. It’s also not normal for a mutual aid truck to arrive before the department that has trucks only yards away; a mutual aid truck staffed with former Chester Fire members. What’s most concerning is the residents clearly didn’t know there was an issue, while a former fire member says repeatedly, he warned the select board of this problem and did not receive any response. The attached Facebook posts and NH DOL decision show systemic issues within the town leadership structure. I’ve been informed these issues are ongoing and have not been resolved, but the budget remains.
This year during budget meetings, the Chester Fire Chief scolded the selectboard for attempting to cut funding for a full-time position that has been vacant for almost two years; not to say they won’t fund it if they hire someone, but to use the funds elsewhere until someone takes the job. He characterized this as “setting a dangerous precedent.” Perhaps the fire chief should perform some introspection into his own actions, that have placed town safety at risk?
Not to worry, the town narrowly voted to buy a new fire truck this year, even after the whistleblower from the NH DOL investigation, made a compelling case the purchase was unnecessary and frivolous. The selectboard’s selling point that “the money is there now” seemed to sway voters more than concrete statistics. While there are constant anecdotal stories about poor performance at the fire department, the case against the police department is far more egregious and disturbing.
Police Department
The only mention of problems at the police department came in 2023 when a selectboard member mentioned “unresolved issues” in the police and fire departments as a reason he was seeking re-election. He lost that year and ran again in 2024, and in his interview, he was more forceful is his statements about the police department leadership and characterized the selectboard as a “do-nothing” group.
Around this period, a Chester residents began exchanging copies of both investigations into the Chester Police Department with some discussion on Facebook. Then, in a bizarre turn of events, Chester residents began receiving an anonymous mailer about a child support ruling against the selectboard candidate who was promising to go public with the issues concerning the police chief. Who would have thought small town politics could be just as dirty as the national stage?
After reading through the investigations several times, it’s important to ask yourself why this was allowed to continue? How was the police chief allowed to keep his job? The board would have had cause to fire him after the first investigation due to breach of contract, and “cause” is the only legal requirement to terminate a police chief (NH Rev Stat § 105:2-a (2023)). The selectboard also had the option of not renewing his contract that expired in June, 2020, one month after the first investigation. But, the board chose to keep the same leadership in place, and the result is reported in the second investigation from 2022.
Each heading in the report brings more disturbing and corrupt charges against the chief, and by extension, the Chester Selectboard. There is ample evidence in the report from town employees and police officers to conclude the chief steals time from the town and does so by many different methods that include working an exorbitant number of paid details while he’s supposed to be leading the department. The report makes clear that his own officers don’t think he's working his full hours as police chief, and the investigation makes it sound mathematically impossible. Moreover, the report paints a picture, much like the fire department report, of a hostile work environment, causing long-time members to leave for neighboring towns.
Time is not the only manipulation though, and the report shows the police department statistics cannot be trusted, and the numbers are manipulated in several ways. These statistics are used to request funding and each year Chester taxpayers are fed statistics to justify more police spending. Of note, the report states Chester recorded 9,000 calls for service in 2021, while Auburn recorded 4,000 calls for service. But, the Chester town report from the last several years reports the total calls for service as 28,202 in 2021, then 18,220 in 2023. Clearly there was an adjustment to the recording of statistics, or are we to believe the police workload was down 10,000 calls?
If there was a 40 percent workload reduction, then why are taxpayers paying for a new police cruiser this year, and why is the chief’s cruiser the one being retired, when the report shows he uses his cruiser for personal use and didn’t even respond when there was a shooting in town. If the cruiser is only being used for him and his girlfriend to travel to and from town hall and to go on details, then it seems reasonable to keep the same vehicle rather than give it to another town department for continued use. But, in Chester, budget meetings are a display of theater and reading through the meeting minutes you will not find transparency, but a display of propaganda. The selectboard meeting minutes from Feb. 15, 2024 read:
“Chief Berube presented the Police Department budget with a 7.30% increase. As most know, Chief Berube is frugal with his budget. He tries not to overspend but he needs to get the job done. There is a hiring crisis in all aspects of public safety. It is cheaper to retain than to train. Chief Berube pointed out 99% of his budget is salary based.”
Think about this statement and what you’ve read so far. The word “frugal” does not come to mind when reading through the investigations or when the chief referred to the police “revolving account” as his “slush fund.” The “hiring crisis in all aspects of public safety” is worsened in Chester by poor leadership and lack of oversight. If it’s “cheaper to retain than to train” the selectboard should have heeded the warnings of former employees as they left to work in neighboring towns. Adding insult to injury, the minute taker for this meeting was the chief’s girlfriend, who was identified as one of the issues in the investigation. These statements were made by the chief, but are not attributed to him, but instead are qualified by the statement, “as most know.”
Another issue of taxpayer dollars was the $30,000 approval by Chester taxpayers for the town to buy an ATV. As with most town spending, this was presented as a “need” Shortly after the purchase, the Chester Police Facebook page showed a picture (posted on 7/30/2022) of trash in the woods and stating they made their first “grant funded” OHRV patrol yielding several arrests and warnings. During public meetings, the chief had the selectboard accept NH Fish and Game grants for this purpose. But, reading through the report, you will find a different narrative, showing this ATV was another frivolous purchase and was barely used; however, it’s sitting on display at every town event as a reminder of where our tax dollars have gone.
I will conclude this not with my thoughts, but with an excerpt from the 2022 investigation:
“The most concerning issue is that all of the officers believe that the chief is stealing time from the town; that is, they all believe that he never works a full, forty-hour week, that he receives his regular salary plus detail pay when he does details during the day, and that he takes more vacation then he is allotted and does not report ... the officers painted a very consistent picture of a police chief who is controlling and disorganized, and who is perceived to be lying to his officers on a regular basis … The chief is accountable to no one other than the BOS, who do not have the ability to supervise him on a day-to-day basis. … given the lack of oversight or consequences for his actions up to this point.”
Remember, this was the second investigation, finding similar, and worse, issues than the first. So, why was nothing done? Will there be a third investigation leaked to residents, or should we just assume things are better now?
—Chester Grok
*All receipts (photos) below are able to be viewed larger if click on*
