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More funding for police training?

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Gov. Maggie Hassan supports a bill that would change the funding structure for police training in New Hampshire.

The Police Standards and Training Council is responsible for the police academy in Concord, which trains all police officers in the state. Right now the Council is funded by a portion of tickets, called penalty assessments.

SB 527 would end penalty assessment funding and instead fund police training through the general fund, the pool of unassigned state revenue.

Supporters argue that the current funding structure is woefully inadequate to fund police training.

“There’s a huge structural deficit, no matter what they collected in the penalties,” said Sen. Chuck Morse.

A press release from Gov. Hassan states, “Senate Bill 527 would provide critical funding to the Police Standards and Training Council, helping to ensure that the council could continue to train law enforcement officers and prepare them for public safety challenges across the state, including the heroin and opioid crisis, which took the lives of more than 400 Granite Staters last year.” 

However, some may object to the bill’s plan to redirect penalty assessments to the general fund. Penalty assessments were created specifically to fund police training. By redirecting the assessments to the general fund, penalty assessments lose their original purpose and instead become another tax on residents with no clear purpose other than to raise revenue.

How would you fund police training in New Hampshire? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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