The Keene Police Department website has a page “Professional Ethics” that lists statements police employees allegedly seek to uphold, including:
It is my responsibility to keep the community informed on local government affairs, encourage communication between the citizens and all local government officers, emphasize friendly and courteous service to the public, and seek to improve the quality and image of public service.
Communication is key.
While I applaud those at the Keene police department for sharing the names and phone extension of current employees, I recognize that a lot of people might prefer to communicate via email. So, on July 31, 2013 I solicited that information in the form of a 91A request (what a Freedom of Information Act request is referred to here in the ‘shire).
screenshot from “KPD Employees” page showing addition of email addresses
A couple of days later I received a response from Bill Dow, the deputy clerk/records manager for the “City of Keene,” which noted me that my request had been received, that Dow would “commence collecting the information requested at the earliest possible opportunity,” and would soon be in touch.
A few weeks later – on August 20th – Dow wrote again and noted [see below] that an existing list of the email addresses for Keene police employees did not exist. However, Dow did give an overview of the standard email protocol used for employees of the “City of Keene” (first initial + last name + “ci.keene.nh.us”). He also indicated how email addresses are assigned when the same first initial and last name exists (the middle initial is then included), as is the case for two current Keene police employees.
With that knowledge, I updated the “KPD Employees” page here at KeeneCopBlock.org. Hopefully that will prove to be a good resource for those who wish to communicate directly with individuals who now take a paycheck under the auspices of serving and protecting [note that despite such claims, courts have repeated ruled that police have no duty to protect the individual].
Hopefully the addition of that new info makes police “chief” Kenny Meola happy as it parallels the statement on the page “Police Chief Welcome” on which he calls transparency “essential.”
Keene Police Employee Email Addresses 91a