By Devon Cormier
Staff Writer

Since Hooksett Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis took his post in 1999, 16 police officers and a handful of secretaries and administrators have left the department. Some just can’t ignore the turnover rate.

In 2003, according to the Director of Police Standards and Training Keith Lohmann, the turnover rate for all New Hampshire police departments was 12.3 percent. The number is much higher than normal, Lohmann said. However, in 2003, Hooksett’s turnover rate was 20 percent.

Some simply say it was a tough transition to a good, orderly chief, others say Agrafiotis is unreasonable. Not all can speak as the Hooksett Police Commission has placed a gag order on the employees who filed complaints against the chief. Agrafiotis was placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 17.

Intimidation?
Auburn officer Chip Chabot has often spoken out about difficulties at the department. Chabot was a Hooksett police officer from 1988 to the end of 2003. Chabot said he took a considerable pay cut and left the Hooksett department because of consistent tension with Chief Agrafiotis.

“I was just fed up,” Chabot said. “It’s an atmosphere of intimidation, negativity and very low morale.”

Chabot said many people spoke out in the media around 2000 during the first round of tension between Agrafiotis and officers, during which six officers left the department. Five out of six went to other police departments. Many people said Agrafiotis was a disciplinarian and the officers were just trying to adjust to the change. Six years and 16 officers later, Chabot says that is obviously not the problem.

“That is just not the case,” Chabot said. “Jim Oliver was a disciplinarian. People try to paint the picture that we didn’t like Agrafiotis because we didn’t like discipline, but that just isn’t true. Most of us were service veterans.”

Dave Garofano and Charles Pelton also left Hooksett for Auburn. Neither returned messages left at their office.

However, Pelton said in December of 2000 that he looked forward to working in his hometown of Auburn. He had been a Hooksett officer for 13 years and left in December of 2000 by leaving a letter of resignation in his locker. Pelton had already begun his Auburn job when Agrafiotis learned of his resignation from the Hooksett Police Department.

High turnover
Bedford Police Chief David Bailey said he didn’t have statistics about turnover rates in Bedford, but said the last time an officer left for another department was in 2001. “We’ve had people retire,” Bailey said. “We’ve had to fire some; but we really haven’t had many people leave for another department. That’s unusual.”

Now an Amherst officer, James Brace said he agreed with Chabot. Brace left Hooksett in 2003 after a year and a half with the Hooksett Police Department.

“I fully support what (Chabot) said,” said Brace. “It was right on point. I fully support all of the guys over at the Hooksett PD. They are really a great group of guys.”

Brace said the Amherst Police Department has 18 full-time officers and only one person has left in the last two years. The lieutenant retired after 29 years in law enforcement.

Hooksett has 25 full-time officers and has lost six officers in the last two years. Three officers went to other departments, two retired and one made a career change.

Retired Lt. Owen Gaskell spent 17 years with the Hooksett police department and left at the age of 62. He was the last to leave the department.

“I retired after 28 years as a cop,” Gaskell said. “I was tired. I was tired of some of the stuff that was going on, too.”

Gaskell said he was not under investigation when he left the department, and would not comment further on his decision to retire.

Others who retired include former police chief James Oliver, Robert Dwyer and Michael Jodoin. They could not be reached for comment for this story.

Lt. Jacques Plante left the Hooksett Police Department in late 2000 for a computer technician job with Saint Anselm College. Plante had been in the Hooksett department for 14 years and was interim chief after Oliver retired. Plante was passed over for the job of police chief when Agrafiotis was hired.

Plante declined to comment on his reasons for leaving, but it was reported in 1999 that Plante was being accused of an improper practice charge by union members. Plante’s wife said at that time that Plante could not comment per orders of the police commission.

Brian Gannon, now a Manchester officer, left Hooksett in 2000 after 11 years with the department. Gannon even retired his dog, Granit, early from the K-9 department so Gannon could seek employment elsewhere.

Gannon said he did not want to comment on his reasons for leaving, but in 2000, Gannon said morale problems were a constant in the department and that Chief Agrafiotis was often intimidating and used psychological and polygraph tests to scare officers.

David Dupont and Ken Chamberlain also left the Hooksett Police Department for Manchester and neither returned phone calls for this story.

Thomas Keach and Jessie Sherrill now work in the state police department and neither returned messages left at their homes. Also, James Mansour, who left the Hooksett Police Department for a security job, and Michael Verneuille, who has a sheriff job somewhere in Florida, could not be reached for comment.

The Hooksett Police Commission hired Gerard J. Hayes to conduct the investigation into the complaints against Agrafiotis. The investigation is expected to take about a month