Spoiler Alert: None of these clowns will be held accountable for this abuse of power, and 6-12 months from now the chief who just “retired” will quietly be hired by another police department in a different part of the state to continue her career as if nothing happened.

Still boggles my mind that they arrested her and searched her home for...drinking at home.

Nope, Mone retired with a very cushy pension. She’s done in law enforcement.

Let’s not forget the differing reasons behind how this will all take place. Right or wrong, police officers are (ultra) protected by their union. The police chief isn’t a participating member of the union so she’s doing right by not speaking about the matter publicly. The officers, on the other hand, can spew whatever they want and get away with it (because of said protections).

Think about all the other businesses where the boss cannot fire an employee? In an “employ at will” state to boot.

“Johnson is no longer with the department” shuffled to another town and still a cop or? Wish the journalist had mentioned

Until she isn’t. Power and greed go hand in hand.

The article says she was one of the Union Leader’s “40 under 40” in 2020. So, at most, she’s in her early 40s today…many years away from collecting her pension. She’ll be back.

That's not why. Imagine what kind of fucked up shit they aren't admitting to so they can protect their crew

Article also says she is 67 🤷

The person they arrested is 67, not the chief.

Ahhh I see more clearly now that coffee has been had. Love how this sub downvotes for no reason! Lol

That actually would be a proper downvote. It's knocking down misinformation that did not contribute to the conversation.

I know how this one goes! She’s likely vested in the state retirement. There’s also some special considerations for police. She’s probably grandfathered into the “20 years” rule where you might be able to collect early.

At any rate, it doesn’t matter. She will move to another state (Mass or Florida) and work there, getting another state (or county) retirement benefit.

It's probably still early for that.

"Asked what the officers should have done instead, Mone told investigators, 'I don’t have an answer for that.'"

That wasn't even a hard question. The right answer is "Nothing."

> The test registered a blood alcohol percentage (BAC) of .086 percent. While that is above the .08 percent legal limit for driving, New Hampshire doesn’t have a legal limit for alcohol consumption while in your own home watching a baseball game.

lol

Well...to be fair...the tax payers of North Hampton are definitely going to be paying out to the lady who got arrested.

Those cops though...yeah...they will just go on their merry way; breaking the law and violating people's rights.

The Litchfield police chief has been on paid leave for 15 months while his sexual assault of another officer is investigated.

[deleted]

It seems like the officers were arresting her on the premise she admitted to having a few drinks before driving home. Which is stupid because she also said she had a few drinks once she got home so any alcohol test results are pointless because there is not a way to determine if the impairment occurred before or after she got home. The article doesn’t state what the arrest was filed as, unless I missed it. I guess the officers wanted to make extra sure to violate some rights by taking pictures of the interior of her home for some reason, not sure what the angle was with that.

TLDR the police screwed up hard all around on this one and the chief did nothing to reprimand them.

EDIT: OP clarified in comment below. I misinterpreted some language in the article.

So was she arrested for living under the influence? 😂

I hope she sues and get tons of our taxpayer money.

"Officers returned to Loud’s home to further question her. They noticed the unclean condition of the home. Loud later told officers she had not cleaned in 10 years, according to the police report.

Asked if she had been drinking, Loud said she stopped off after work and drank a few beers before coming home to watch baseball. She said she might have had some hard lemonade at home."

There's no indication, at least in this article, that she drove at all. She simply said she came home. Those sorts of technicalities are huge in courts. To your point, you're absolutely right in that alcohol and its resulting effects take time, so any testing done (especially when they came back to her house a second time) should have absolutely no standing.

[deleted]

Oh the “came home” is ambiguous, got it. Thanks for the insight.

There's one important lesson to be learned from all of this: The police are not your friends. They are not looking out for you. They are not protecting you. Do not talk to police. DO NOT. TALK. TO POLICE.

If it were me I’d try to sue for terms. Cops gone, new leadership and training or GTFO.

I wonder what charges the cop made up?

Wow. NH police doing some illegal, grimy and unethical things. What a shock.

Holy fucking shit. Scary.

I always think of this video whenever this subject comes up.

I'm confused. Did they arrest her, or did they take her into protective custody? Because those aren't the same and the article doesn't clarify.

Protective custody would mean they took her in for observation overnight because they were concerned about her mental/inebriated state. The article makes it sound like the woman might have other issues - says her house was dirty and she hadn't cleaned in 10 years. I could see why officers would be concerned, but I dont know what our state laws are about hoarders and such. I do think they are legally allowed to take people overnight if they feel they are in danger to themslves or others, and there wasn't like another legal adult around to make sure she was ok. But arresting her for drinking would be some real bullshit. Hard to tell cause this article seems to be missing some info.

They arrested her. It's stated multiple times throughout the article, and anything about protective custody isn't mentioned by anyone involved.

If protective custody was the case, wouldn't it stand to reason that the officers involved would have stated as much and provided evidence beyond a messy home to corroborate it? There's nothing there to suggest that she was a danger to herself or others. Indeed, the fact that Chief Mone abruptly announced her retirement while this is going on should also raise eyebrows.

[deleted]

I just looked it up. It was a PC. Seacoast online said:

"According to the report, after clearing the accident, Johnson decided to reapproach the residence with McCue, to check on the woman's status. When she came to the door again...she said she had consumed three beers and a hard lemonade. [They] asked if there was someone who could stay with her and when she walked into the house to make a call, they followed. What they found...caused concern...(Johnson) said that he had never been in a residence that was that bad since he has been a police officer.” According to the MRI report, McCue described it as “not livable.”

In his police report, McCue wrote he “smelled the odor of rotting food and fecal matter. There were mountains of trash and belongings throughout the house, making walking impossible without stepping on something. In the back bedroom, there were large piles of clothes and garbage. In the bathroom sink, I observed what appeared to be a combination of fecal matter, vomit and urine covering the table and sink."

According to the report, Johnson felt the woman should not be left on her own due to intoxication and the condition of her home. When he was told it would take an hour for the woman’s brother to travel to North Hampton, he decided he could not spare an officer to stay with her for that length of time. He allowed the woman to smoke her cigarette then drove her to the Rockingham County jail to be held in protective custody. According to the MRI report, McCue added, “She was compliant but did appear more intoxicated by the time he dropped her off at the jail.”"

The internal review of this by the MRI consultant basically said what the officer did was legal but just generally unhelpful:

"According to New Hampshire Chapter 172-B, a police officer who encounters someone who is intoxicated as defined by New Hampshire law may take the person into protective custody. The law states they can either help them to their home, release them into another person’s custody or “lodge the person in a local jail or county correctional facility for said person’s protection, for up to 24 hours,” or until the individual sobers up.... The report concludes that although Johnson believed he was acting in the best interest of the woman involved, his action was not appropriate "and other short- and long-term remedies should have been pursued."

The consultant noted, "the extreme conditions observed by the officers did not occur overnight. There is no nexus to connect her use of alcohol that evening to the condition of her home which may have developed over many years," he stated."

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2023/03/14/north-hampton-chief-mone-officer-investigated/70002700007/

Like that all makes a fuck ton more sense. Holding her overnight was legal- but probably unwarranted bc it really wasn't gonna do anthing to solve this lady's issues. This other article is misleading and missing a lot of facts. This form of custody is completely legal under NH law if they felt she was a danger to herself. And that's the real issue - laws like this are completely subjective to the officer. Clearly, the town didn't like the officers judgment on this and no wonder (like what the fuck was sitting in a cell gonna do? ) but this woman definitely probably does need some legit help.

The rest of the article goes on to say police chief diagreed with the MRI report, that she did not discipline the officers involved but that she did have a conversation with them that "there could have been a better resolution than taking the woman into protective custody." So it sounds more like she left bc she was sick of the town questioning her decisions more than she was covering shit up.

I'm no. I misread it. Shoot me 🙄

Lawyer Steve Lehto's video on this case was hilarious.

Police Chief Resigns After Idiotic Arrest https://youtube.com/watch?v=ANY21q8lr78&feature=shares

Also people in the comments are scratching their heads and asking if NH has prohibition. lulzlulzlulz

I understand it was an accident, it's not a big deal, but if you look at the rules of the site that is what the downvote is for.

But I thought it was just one bad apple

I believe there were 2 officers on the scene. That means at least 1 other went along with it rather than pulling him aside and saying "don't be insane." Then police chief went on record saying the 2 officers handled the situation properly. So now we're up to 3. I'm not aware of any town officers standing up and saying the debacle was idiotic. Therefore I can't say if it's the whole department or not. If someone there disavowed it would be a good sign. Not seeing it.

yeah. The issue is so much bigger than the "one bad apple" narrative the bootlickers try to claim.

Welp. I don't play by the rules (apparently). This sub is brutal, mean, angry

OK. Live in North Hampton. The Select Board wanted to get rid of the Police Chief for some time (poorly kept secret). Nevertheless, the Select Board members said her "retirement" was for unknown reasons and a complete surprise. That's hard to believe and probably not true. A couple of days later, the NH Journal reported (character assassination really disguised as an article on the arrest) based on "Investigative Reports" that are confidential and can't be seen by anyone but was provided to the journalist by "sources." North Hampton is like a little Chicago. It's corrupt as hell. The Select Board got rid of the last police chief too. The real investigation should be into that pattern and the leaks of confidential reports to journalists. The arrest itself may be messed up. Don't know but don't give this particular journalist much credence for this obvious hit piece.

Yeah this article is shitty and full of misrepresentations and misleading quotes. She wasn't arrested- she was put in protective custody which is totally legal in this state.

He didn't break the law. This article was crappy. She was put in protective custody, not arrested. While it kind of a dumb and unhelpful thing to do- it was well within the law for him to do so.

Just because she was not formally arrested does not mean that her 4th Amendment rights were not violated. Police do not just get to declare protective custody and put anyone they so chose in custody. Also, they searched her home without permission which is another 4th violation.

They didn't search her house. They were inside with her while she was trying to call someone to come watch over her because they thought she way too drunk and when they went allowed inside they were even more concerned because you couldn't even walk around. I dont necessarily agree with the law or the officers' actions- but it is the law we have in this state, and they did not break the law or even the spirit. The misguided officer was worried about this woman's health and safety. He wasn't trying to teach her a lesson. He didnt infringe upon any rights as they are currently laid out. Maybe we should change the law or maybe even defund the police and fund other social programs that might actually help this poor lady. But right now, this is the system we have. Detention and short-term protective custody are all the state does to for the homeless, addicts and the mentally ill.

From the article,

“(McCue) said he did not observe any sign of impairment at that point. He explained that (Loud) seemed steady on her feet and he could not observe any odor (of alcohol) at that time,” MRI’s report states. Johnson, who was the lead officer, wanted to investigate further."

"...the officers went through her home taking photos of the mess."

They had no apparent reason to detain her. You are saying she was wasted but that is not what the article says. Furthermore, going into someone's home and taking pictures is considered a search.

In this article (which reads like a misguided hit piece) yeah. They fucking cherry picked a bunch of quotes from a long list of reports. But if you read other news articles from across state the MRI investigation also reports (which is the independent consultant brought in to evaluate the incident and whether the cops behaved badly) the woman herself says she drank 3 beers and a hard lemonade, that she blew over a .08 when tested and that she seemed even more inebriated by the time she was dropped off for overnight custody.

This article also works really hard to keep saying arrest arrest arrest like she was charged with a crime. Protective custody is not an arrest. if that was the facts, sure, but that article is deliberately trying to make a mountain out of mole hill. The lady needs help and the officer made a bad choice. But it was legal. Like there are plenty of actual fucked up things the cops do in this state. Like the cop in dover who beat his wife and stole edibles out of evidence lockers and then just got off scott free. Where's the outrage for that shit?