YOUR COMMENTS

The issues and problems in Towns and Cities have been around forever the only difference is that technology has allowed this type of forum for discussion and complaint. Yes Steve that is Hooksetts way and the Fire Chief should be looking over his shoulder. If the Chief were to leave the best thing for the Town is to hire outside. Do not hire any current or former employees for the position. Start anew.
- Doug, Hooksett

This story makes it harder for me to write a check for my property tax bill that oh surprise surpise has increased once again. What a slap in the face to us taxpayers given the economic state we are in.

Where's the leadership!!

We need to clean house in Hooksett.!!!

Donna, Hooksett
- Donna LaPointe, Hooksett NH

Hello Steve Walsh - Sorry I meant to write a punch line, actually that was the joke and the punch line … I was kidding.

As for Steve in Manchester - for a Manchester resident you seem to have considerable knowledge of HooksettIssues ownership.

But your right - most people won't come out and stand up against the Chief because they all figure they will be harassed, others just don't get invovled because they think it is normal. It isn't normal to have a Chief try to short cut legislation that would expand the Police Commission that provides oversight to the Chief. I would call that a conflict of interest of the highest order.

As for the good about the Department, actually, the rank and file are some of the best in the State, as a matter of fact we should designate the Hooksett PD as the adjunct NH Police training facility, since we train them and all those bad apples the Chief forces out end up getting paid more and live happier lives in other departments. The other departments love it - fully trained ready to go officers.

Take Officer Defina as an example, he scored second in the state on the Sgt board exams ... and had four commendations from this Chief and the State last year including bravery.

But, all of a sudden he had to be fired, after ten years of service. Oh that's right, he's a bad apple.

You also share some common traits of our Chief – first his name is Steve too and he also believes everyone is wrong except for himself.

These people in Hooksett have lived this issue for more than five years. You have read about it in a paper … enough said.
- Ethan, Hooksett

Watch out Fire Chief.... your probably next. Do these constant complainers have anything good to say? About anyone? What a bunch of unhappy soles. You have the ring leader of this lynch mob thinking he owns the Hooksett issues forum? Hello!! Google owns it! And out of a town of 12K only 20 or so people are involved with this forum. And I wonder if they are all related. What a joke.

What a sad bunch of complainers in Hooksett.

Sad....
- steve, manchester

I wonder how I can get on the Hooksett Police Dept payroll...it seems that they have an endless open account...lawyers for $175K and a $30K sign. I wonder what the Chief would pay for some GOOD PR?
- Hooksett Redneck, Hooksett, NH

I live in Hookestt and for the most part or town is running well. Our new Town Administrator is doing an outstanding job. Fire Chief, great.
Town Council is working well. the problem is the Police Chief. He has not only screwed up the Police Dept. he is causing much extra work for others. He needs to leaqve,he won't, he needs a push. You can see many videos from Police com Meetings and the new "Dirty Laundry Video"at hooksettissues.com.
Hooksett is a great place to live , we just have a problem
- Dave, Hooksett

"Promote Captain Cecilio"??? Are you kidding me? Things need to be fixed and you suggest to promote Paul? You obviously don't have a clue !!!! You need to clean house and hire a chief and staff from the outside in order to rid the cancer that grows from within there.
- Steve Walsh, Hooksett

Now I know why my property tax bill has gone up once again. It's so easy to waste other people's money. Increasing taxes in the economy is incomprehensible!
- Donna, Hooksett

It is clear, the Chief has lost the ability to command. He has shown that his method of dealing with even a small issue - i.e. negative feedback from his command is to immediately seek legal counsel. The counsel represents teh best interest of the Chief, not the town.

When you suspend people for placing a POST IT NOTE's on a door, you have lost command and control.

At a minimum the Chief needs a mental health review.
- Ethan, Hooksett

First, Dina read the article they already compared the legal fees to like size departments. Hooksett was 175K for just the police department. The others were for the entire town, to include highway, fire, police, transfer station etc... Hooksett was triple the others. As far as the Chief, Candia was glad to get rid of him! Now we are stuck with him.. Time for him to go!
- kara, Hooksett

175,000! That is Starting Salary and benfits for 4 police officers. The town needs to get rid of the cheif.
- Dick, Hooksett

I'd be interested to have the UL compare this with other city's PDs - maybe it's just slightly higher than average for comparable departments? (or if it is WAY above, that would be nice to know too)
- Dina, Rochester

I bet the legal fees pale in comparision to the cost of recruiting, hiring, and training the 35 officers that have left. I wish the Union Leader was able to get a ballpark figure on the money spent there... I'm sure the Chief gives a final "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on a candidate for hire, so he's either a terrible judge of character or he's driving people out of his Department.

Hooksett PD sounds like the prison from Shawshank Redemption. Everyone on the outside looking in can see there's a problem, while the ostriches with their heads in the sand on the Hooksett Police Commission are busy pressing their "Easy" button saying "Everything is OK here"...
- Chris, Bedford

"...to be fair to the employee" - WOW - that's a new concept!!
- David D, Hooksett

To Tom in Hooksett. Check out the story of the missing bird and the SRO in the papers printed edition.
- G. Paul, Concord

Tommy from Manch, are you serious? Do you live in a bubble?? Your making fun of Hooksett when our crime rate doubles every 6 months, our school budget is a the joke of people in other states and our taxes are on a constant rise because we can budget due to all the immigrants being dumped on us by the Lutheran church in Concord for starters. Shall I go on??? Let's fix our situation before we start throwing stones!!!
- Johnny, Manchester

Ha Ha .. Hooksett, what a dump. And now these same people want to build their own High School? You can't make this up. Half the town hall staff gets fired for gossip, the cops are either leaving or getting arrested for being drunk and leaving the scene of an accident. Everyone hate the police chief. The town manager finally left. About once a week, someone threatens to sue someone else on the town council.. Hooksett was a joke when I was a kid, and it remains a sand pit .. mobile homes, box stores, traffic, .. it is like the movie "A town without pity" ..
- tommy, manchester,nh

The common denominator in the Hooksett PDs legal problems is the chief. We all wonder when the Town Council will wake up and smell the coffee. The legal cost are just another example of the negative effect of keeping that idiot at the helm.Hooksett has lost a lot of excellent officiers, and the town has to absorb the costs associated with training new employees, and then pay attorneys to support a vindictive administrator who drives the new hires out.Is it acceptable to assume that all the officers were all bad employees and that the chief is the best thing since canned beer or is the chief the real problem? Its time to remove the chief. The council has an obligation to the taxpayers of Hooksett to protect the towns resources. If the council can not handle the task then lets weed out the incompetent ones there too
- Tsan, Hooksett NH

When was the last time Hooksett made the news for something positive?
- Tom Donovan, Hooksett

This is how the town of Hooksett operates.
Someone incompetent gets into a position and they are impossible to oust.
Small town politics = corruption
- Marie, Hooksett

I work for an auto dealership in a nearby town. We have the same problem with sales people. We have to hire new people all the time because management is just plain stupid all the time. I think you need better people to run the police dept. Get a new chief!!!!!!!
- Sean C, Allenstown

Dear Town of Hooksett Council,

How about this one, you should have fired the Chief years ago. You would have paid much less for his lawsuit then what you have paid up to this date with these other ones. Open you eyes and be fiscally responsible and get rid of him!
- Kevin, Hooksett

I can speak from personal knowledge. The officers that have left HPD have left for just cause. Some have attempted to give that town everytyhing they had and just continue to be harassed in some way or another. This agency is not going to be able to find the highest quailified candidates it can especially from the certified world as the reputation from the MA state line to Canada is very aware of what is going on and how people are treated. There are still several great Policman (woman) within that building however it could all change and your town could be patroled by those who are not as proactive, thorough and qualified.
If an administrator was intentionally trying to make things difficult for his employees there would be no need to consult an attorney, in fact that would be the last thing on his/her mind.
- R.Allen, Manchester

"something wrong with the hiring procsess" Are you kidding Vansoucy you are out to lunch. If I lived in Hooksett the whole town administration would have alot of explaining to do, tax payers of that town should demand the chiefs resignation. How about this, contact all of the officers who have left and ask them what the problem is. some were supervisors and officers with years investited in that town WHY WOULD THEY LEAVE
- EK, Manchester

Spend 25K and bring in a company like MRI to do a complete evaluation of the PD. You will find that this "chief" is in fact no leader at all, just a tyrant!
- Jeff, Manchester

Bottom line: No matter who is right or wrong, the Chief is too expensive for Hooksett. How much time was wasted dealing with these personnel matters and not spent on protecting the citizens? Too much.
- Tom, Hooksett

When is the town of Hooksett going to wake up and fire the Chief?? So we can stop all the bad publicity.
- Paula, Hooksett

I think that it is way beyond time to get rid of the Police Chief. How can we have gone through 35 officers??? I had a friend in the Hooksett PD.....it didn't take him long to figure out the Chief needs to go. My friend is much happy now - in another PD.

Wake up Town Council and GET RID OF THE POLICE CHIEF!
- Linda, Hooksett

I agree with TK. I would like to know what the money was spent on. If it was in reference to disciplinary action, I would like to know if the firing/discipline stood up or was the officer reinstated. I would also like to know how much money the town of Hooksett has spent on these actions since Angerfiotis was hired. I say look at the common denominator. There is no way that all of these officers were in the wrong and the disgruntled Chief was right. Do the taxpayers realize how much money is spent on training new officers? It is time that the town of Hooksett fire the Chief and have him challenge the town. It seems odd that all of this trouble has started once he took office.

Oh, by the way, wasn't it Chief Angerfiotas who hired these "bad officers" in the first place? Get rid of him!!!!!!
- sonja, hooksett

Can we deduct the legal fees for the chief's pay?

Why are we paying a separate attorney to represent the chief? That should be his responsibility.

It's pretty evident what the root problem of all this is...........the chief. He's got to go.
- CJ, Hooksett

If there are that many "Personnel issues"---Its a management issue.. Hooksett needs to look at the top!!!
- Jim, Manchester

when will this town wake up and do something about this nut job running the police dept?It seams like everybody in town goverment is afraid of this
- steve, Hooksett

From the videos of the Hooksett Chief failing to execute an investigation into what has been termed MEMO GATE, to the fact that after the Chief had a discussion with David Boutin about not expanding the commission, Mr. Boutin delayed seeking legislation, and finally on video Boutin admits that he was concerned because the Hooksett Chief said he would, "Hang out Hooksett’s Laundry", even if the Chief didn't say Laundry, the discussion was interpreted by Mr. Boutin as the Chief going to the state house to testify about "Hooksett’s Laundry" ... the fact that David Boutin took pause in proceeding, can only conclude that whatever was said, was coercive in nature, or at least some level of subterfuge to sabotage the proceedings.

The fact that the Police Chief of a town can simply go around the entire city council and have back door discussions with a Hooksett representative to the state legislature and delay that state representative from seeking legislation on the expansion of the Police Commission is an eye opener for this Hooksett resident.

I think the legal bill has gotten out of control, because the Chief has lost control of his command; he seems to have lost the high ground with an approach to management that has become increasingly heavy handed since 2005 and strikes of malice, rather than of any form of true leadership. Furthermore, in my opinion, I believe that the Chief has become so dependent on his legal counsel, that he has potentially become incapable of executing his duties of command.

It is time to consider the promotion of Captain Cecilio.
- Ethan, Hooksett

Helloooooooo Hooksett. Your not hiring bad officers, you hired a bad Chief.
- TK, Candia