NH Implements Police Accountability Recommendations, Including Body Camera For State Police

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire will overhaul its police training standards, require state troopers to wear body cameras and establish a public integrity unit within the Department of Justice under an executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Chris Sununu.

The 21-part order implements many of the recommendations of the Commission on Law Enforcement, Accountability, Community and Transparency that Sununu created in June in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In late August, the group issued a 153-page report with 48 recommendations in areas such as officer certification and training, the reporting and investigating of police misconduct, improving community relations and mental health.

Among other things, Wednesday's order directs the Police Standards and Training Council to create policy guidelines regarding the use of force; duty to intervene; code of conduct; duty to report misconduct; prohibition of choke holds; and procedures to guard against positional asphyxia. It also mandates officer training on implicit bias and cultural responsiveness, ethics and de-escalation, and requires similar training on implicit bias and racial profiling for prosecutors and public defenders.

"We are moving forward immediately to implement many of these recommendations, and I have confidence that the Department of Safety, the Department of Justice, the Police Standards and Training Council and all other involved state agencies will get it done," Sununu said in a statement.

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