News

Seabrook chief weighs call for increased mutual aid

By Angeljean Chiaramida
Staff writer
Published: June 4, 2008

SEABROOK — After hearing that Hampton Falls was considering cutting its full-time police force by 25 percent, police Chief Patrick Manthorn wasn't surprised to get a call from Hampton Falls police Chief Robbie Dirsa recently.

"He called and asked if we could pick up more mutual aid calls," Manthorn said yesterday. "I didn't want to disappoint him, but I told him I didn't want to be responding to calls for service in Hampton Falls day in and day out, the way it was in the old days when we were the first responders — with the state police — to night calls there.

"But, if it's a matter of safety and helping a Hampton Falls officer out with backup, I'm not going to let an officer out there get hurt. We'll respond."

Hampton Falls' possible Police Department personnel cut surfaced when one of its four full-time officers, Jeremy Tetreault, was hired in Seabrook, where he will begin work on Saturday. The loss began a discussion among Hampton Falls selectmen concerning not rehiring for Tetreault's position, something he thinks is unwise.

After serving three years as a night patrolman there, Tetreault said Hampton Falls easily has enough crime to deal with to warrant the four full-timers, he said. Its location between the larger and more active towns of Hampton and Seabrook keeps officers busy.

And, he said, the cut will affect police departments in Seabrook, Kensington, Exeter and Hampton, who will respond to Hampton Falls for mutual aid.

This is not the first time Seabrook has been affected by a neighboring town's cutbacks. When Hampton underwent budget cuts to its fire department two years ago when its budget failed to pass, officials chose to staff only one ambulance.

That action resulted in Seabrook's ambulance responding to twice the number of mutual aid calls to Hampton as it had the previous year.

Mutual aid is a vital part of all communities' emergency services, Manthorn said, and enough can't be said about the vital need for police and fire departments to cross borders and help each other. In Seabrook, he said, the Hampton Police and Fire departments are often the first to get to Seabrook calls at the beach because they're closer.

Fire Chief Jeff Brown said recently that Hampton Fire Department's mutual aid response to a raging house fire at the beach earlier this year is one of the reasons the fire didn't spread to nearby homes.

But enduring a tight budget in a town with growing needs himself, Manthorn faces the dilemma of many chiefs: To get mutual aid when needed, they must respond to mutual aid calls when they come.

"Hampton Falls officers have always been willing to slide across the town line when we need backup," Manthorn said. "We're all in this together, and it's a fine line we're walking. This isn't a new problem, but it's getting old."