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Portsmouth commission approves $24,100 highway-safety grant; chief reports staffing-driven drops in calls and outlines federal grant efforts
Summary
Commission approved a $24,100 New Hampshire Office of Highway Safety grant. Chief Mark Newport reported a 30% drop in calls for service year-to-date tied largely to staffing shortages, outlined dispatch remediation due in September, and described several pending federal grant applications, including $1M for ICAC and $1.03M for IT infrastructure.
The Portsmouth Police Commission unanimously approved accepting a $24,100 Highway Safety Grant from the New Hampshire Office of Highway Safety to support six highway safety initiatives.
Commissioner Jay Lieberman moved to accept the grant and the motion was seconded and approved ('Aye'). The commission did not record objections.
Chief Mark Newport reviewed operations and finance updates. He reported 14,897 calls for service from Jan. 1 through June 30, compared with a two‑year average of 21,269 — roughly a 30% decline — and attributed much of the decrease to staffing shortages. The chief said arrests fell from 442 to 344 year‑over‑year, reported motor‑vehicle accidents declined from 232 to 182 (a roughly 21.7% drop), and motor‑vehicle stops decreased from 3,864 to 2,344 (a near 39.3% reduction). He cautioned that some of the drop reflects limited officer availability to conduct self‑initiated activity and traffic enforcement.
The chief also updated the commission on dispatch remediation: the dispatch center has been gutted and rebuilding is underway; the department is on schedule and hopes to be back in the space by September.
On department finances, the chief said finance staff is finishing FY26 closeout; preliminary figures indicate a surplus of approximately $250,000 that will be returned to the city. He described pending and recent grant activity: an ICAC congressional allocation request for $1,000,000 was submitted to Senator Shaheen, an IT infrastructure and security grant of $1,030,000 approved via Congressman Pappas requires a statement of intended use, a request for congressional spending to help fund a real‑time crime center remains pending, and a JAG award of $13,827 will cover rifle upgrades.
The commission heard a brief update that work on the department’s strategic plan is ongoing.
