Ossipee Select Board holds pre‑termination hearing for Officer Carrie Blackwood

The Ossipee Select Board on May 16 held a public pre‑termination hearing on a recommendation from the town police chief to terminate Officer Carrie Blackwood, who faces allegations including improper evidence handling, an unauthorized social‑media post and conduct during a mutual‑aid response to a Farmington case.

The hearing matters because it concerns a sworn officer’s fitness for duty, the town’s evidence controls and whether the board — as the appointing authority under RSA 41:48 cited at the hearing — will act on the chief’s recommendation. After presentations from Officer Blackwood, her attorney and the town’s representatives, the board recessed to nonpublic deliberation under the statutory exemption cited by the board.

During the public portion, attorney Mark Beaudoin, representing Officer Blackwood, outlined five categories of allegations the chief had listed in his recommendation: (1) Blackwood’s role in a Farmington mutual‑aid incident in which she traveled to Frisbie Memorial Hospital and briefly took custody of a subject; (2) a Snapchat photo that showed a blurred evidence room background; (3) a Facebook post and subsequent handling of comments on the department page; (4) an incident on Feb. 14 in which a small amount of marijuana that had been packaged for destruction was left on her desk; and (5) an incident on March 8 in which a small powdery substance (described in testimony as possibly heroin or fentanyl) was again packaged and later observed on her desk.

Beaudoin told the board the Farmington matter arose after dispatch broadcast a BOLO and that Blackwood, who said she knew the suspect, offered assistance to officers and negotiated with the subject by phone until Rochester or state police could take custody. Beaudoin argued Blackwood “was helping to take this person into custody safely” and said the Office of the Attorney General’s public‑integrity review found no reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct and referred administrative matters back to the police chief for possible internal review.

Officer Blackwood testified under oath that she had recorded a 40‑minute phone call with the subject after notifying him that the call was being recorded, that she had contacted her supervisor, Sergeant Joe Oswald, for permission to continue to Frisbie Memorial Hospital, and that she offered to complete involuntary emergency admission (IEA) paperwork so the subject could receive medical and behavioral‑health care. She said New Hampshire State Police ultimately took physical custody in the hospital parking lot and that she accepted custody briefly to avoid a disruptive scene inside the emergency department.

On the evidence‑handling allegations, Blackwood acknowledged posting a December photo to Snapchat that showed long guns blurred in the background while she was packing the evidence room during a move and said she received verbal counseling from Sergeant Oswald about that posting. She also acknowledged two separate instances in which packaged seized items were left on her desk and later secured: a small, packaged amount of marijuana on Feb. 14 and a sealed Tupperware container with a powdery substance on March 8. She said both items were inside tamper‑evident evidence bags when they were on her desk and that she later secured them in department storage after supervisory staff addressed the matter.

Town counsel and the chief’s representatives emphasized different points. Town counsel argued that leaving seized contraband on an officer’s desk twice — and the second instance involving an unknown powdery substance — was the most serious concern and said the events could justify termination under RSA 41:48, the statute governing removal of town employees for cause. The town’s representative also raised the location and custody questions from the Farmington incident: even if mutual aid can authorize action outside town limits under RSA 105:13 (mutual‑aid/statutory authority cited in the packet), the town’s position was that the officer should not have physically left Ossipee on that call and that some of her on‑scene questions to the subject risked creating Miranda issues for any criminal prosecutions.

Beaudoin countered that the AG public‑integrity review looked only for criminal probable cause and concluded none existed; he argued the internal investigation process within the department had not provided Blackwood with pre‑investigation notice, a Garrity advisal or the chance for progressive discipline, and he asked the board to exonerate the most serious allegation (the Farmington mutual‑aid incident) and to impose lesser discipline, if any, for social‑media and evidence‑control lapses. He told the board Blackwood had four years of service and had not received a performance evaluation in over two years.

The Select Board entertained questions from board members, heard detailed timeline testimony from Blackwood (including that she contacted Strafford County dispatch and her supervisor before proceeding to the hospital), and reviewed documentary exhibits referenced in the packet. The board then voted to recess the public hearing into a nonpublic session under the statutory exemption cited at the meeting; the transcript records the board’s motion into nonpublic and later records that the board deliberated in nonpublic for about an hour.

The transcript ends after the board’s nonpublic deliberation; no public decision on termination appears in the provided record. The chair told participants the board would notify them later and the hearing was closed for the public record.

Details from the record: the hearing began during the Select Board meeting at about 8:30 a.m. on May 16; Officer Blackwood said she has four years with the department; she was placed on administrative leave on April 29 and received a written packet of allegations at that time; the AG public‑integrity review determined there was no reasonable suspicion warranting criminal charges and recommended administrative review by the chief. The officer’s attorney recommended exoneration of the Farmington‑related allegation, verbal counseling for social‑media posts, a written warning for one evidence control lapse and a one‑day suspension for the repeat evidence incident if the board found administrative fault.

The board recessed to nonpublic deliberation under the statutory exemption cited at the meeting and indicated it would issue further notice; the transcript does not record a final public finding or discipline amount.