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Commission says 2021 retirement settlement closed; will rewrite policy on gifting duty firearms
Summary
Commission placed a written response to a resident’s inquiry about a former officer’s retirement items and clarified that the 2021 suit was settled through Primex; commissioners directed the chief to rewrite the department policy on gifting duty firearms and to present revisions at a future meeting.
Wolfeboro — The Wolfeboro Police Commission moved to place in the record a written response about a retired officer’s lawsuit and asked the chief to prepare a rewritten policy that would remove the department’s practice of gifting duty firearms to retirees.
The commission read a prepared response to repeated public questions from Cara Lewellen about her husband’s retirement and whether a rocking chair or his duty weapon had been promised or delivered when he left the department. The commission’s statement said the 2021 lawsuit was settled through Primex, the town’s municipal insurance exchange, and was resolved by negotiation rather than a court decision.
The response said the settlement—a payment to the retired officer—ended the suit and did not include the rocking chair or the service weapon. The commission chair said the commission would not reopen the matter because it has been closed under the legal doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel, which the statement summarized for the public.
Separately, the commission discussed a department policy that, as written, allowed the commission to gift a duty weapon to an officer who retires “in good stead” after 15 or more years. Commissioners debated whether to keep that language. One member cautioned that rescinding the entire policy could remove other useful content, so commissioners directed department staff to rewrite the policy to remove the gifting provision but preserve other separation-from-agency rules.
The commission voted to ask the chief to produce the revised policy for review at a future meeting. No firearms were gifted or transferred at this meeting, and commissioners noted that previous duty-weapon transitions for the current firearm refresh were handled through trade-in and dealer purchase options rather than direct department sales.
A motion to place the written response into the meeting record passed by voice vote; a later motion directing the chief to rewrite the relevant policy also passed by voice vote.
