Laconia police expand liaison officers, deploy school alert tech and report higher digital survey response
August 22, 2025 | Laconia Police Commission, Laconia, Belknap County, New Hampshire
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LACONIA, N.H. — The Laconia Police Department reported new community-policing initiatives and technology rollouts at its Aug. 20 commission meeting, including liaison officers for problem properties, an alert system for Holy Trinity School and expanded use of a caller-update and survey platform.
Chief Steve Canfield said the department will assign liaison officers to recurring quality-of-life problem areas — including several properties with unauthorized occupants — to serve as the neighborhood contact and coordinate responses. "What we're looking to do with those is assign a liaison officer to those problem areas, and then they can be the contact for those neighbors and a conduit for funneling information both ways," he said.
Nut graf: Commissioners heard the department is pairing targeted patrol and neighborhood liaison work with technology to improve response transparency and school safety; the department also reported results from its Spider Tech caller-notification and survey program.
Canfield said Holy Trinity School is implementing an emergency alert system called eGIX that will notify staff and the department if the school activates a lockdown or other emergency alert. He said the city incurs no cost to participate and the police will be part of the notification chain before the school year starts.
On caller updates and satisfaction measurement, Canfield reported the Spider Tech program sent 1,748 text-message updates in July, a 14.8% increase from the prior comparison, and the survey completion rate rose to 21.9%. "Satisfaction with professionalism of the department was ranked 4.9 out of 5. Overall satisfaction with Laconia Police Department was ranked 4.7 out of 5. And how safe people feel living in the city of Laconia was ranked 3.95 out of 5," he said.
The commission also heard about National Night Out, which Canfield called "a very great, community policing event" and said organizers gave away about 500 hot dogs and displayed the National Guard helicopter.
Ending: The commission did not take formal votes on the initiatives. Canfield said implementation of the new technologies is ongoing; liaison officers and the school alert system will be active as the department finalizes training and administrative steps.
Chief Steve Canfield said the department will assign liaison officers to recurring quality-of-life problem areas — including several properties with unauthorized occupants — to serve as the neighborhood contact and coordinate responses. "What we're looking to do with those is assign a liaison officer to those problem areas, and then they can be the contact for those neighbors and a conduit for funneling information both ways," he said.
Nut graf: Commissioners heard the department is pairing targeted patrol and neighborhood liaison work with technology to improve response transparency and school safety; the department also reported results from its Spider Tech caller-notification and survey program.
Canfield said Holy Trinity School is implementing an emergency alert system called eGIX that will notify staff and the department if the school activates a lockdown or other emergency alert. He said the city incurs no cost to participate and the police will be part of the notification chain before the school year starts.
On caller updates and satisfaction measurement, Canfield reported the Spider Tech program sent 1,748 text-message updates in July, a 14.8% increase from the prior comparison, and the survey completion rate rose to 21.9%. "Satisfaction with professionalism of the department was ranked 4.9 out of 5. Overall satisfaction with Laconia Police Department was ranked 4.7 out of 5. And how safe people feel living in the city of Laconia was ranked 3.95 out of 5," he said.
The commission also heard about National Night Out, which Canfield called "a very great, community policing event" and said organizers gave away about 500 hot dogs and displayed the National Guard helicopter.
Ending: The commission did not take formal votes on the initiatives. Canfield said implementation of the new technologies is ongoing; liaison officers and the school alert system will be active as the department finalizes training and administrative steps.
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