PLAISTOW — The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and Rockingham County attorney's office are investigating longtime police Lt. William Baldwin for "irregularities" that occurred during two recent traffic stops, Town Manager Sean Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald confirmed Friday the two agencies have begun looking into allegations that Baldwin, also an Atkinson selectman, may not have followed standard police procedures during the two stops.
But Baldwin said Friday evening he believes he is being unfairly targeted by another member of law enforcement who disagrees with the "discretion" he used during the two stops, both within the last month.
"I do the best to what my discretion allows me to," he said.
Neither Baldwin, Fitzgerald nor interim police Chief Kathleen Jones said they could comment in detail about the traffic stops nor the allegations while the matter is under investigation.
Baldwin, on scheduled time off for the next week, said he's only trying to do his job."It's just disheartening," Baldwin said. "There are two sides to every story, and I take my job very seriously to keep the community very safe." Baldwin said he's not sure who is making the allegations against him.
"I don't know the motive," he said. "I put my life and soul into the job. People just come after you and target you. It's someone who doesn't care for me here."
Baldwin said he's yet to speak to investigators from the attorney general's office or the county attorney's office.
Interim County Attorney James Boffetti said he could not comment on pending investigations. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young could not be reached for comment Friday.
Fitzgerald said he's waiting to receive further reports and had yet to speak to Baldwin, who has worked in Plaistow since 2011. Jones has spoken to Baldwin about the matter, he said.
"We will make appropriate decisions to make sure we keep the highest standards of policing intact," Fitzgerald said.
Jones, who was deputy chief, has led the department since the death of police Chief Stephen Savage in July. She said town officials won't hesitate to act if Baldwin is guilty of any misconduct.
"If anything has been done wrong, we will take swift action as needed," Jones said.
Fitzgerald said despite the allegations against one of the department's highest-ranking officers, Plaistow police do an excellent job serving the community.
"We have an outstanding department," he said.
Baldwin was a member of the Atkinson Police Department for 14 years before leaving for Plaistow.
Earlier this year, he applied for the Atkinson police chief's job after Philip Consentino was dismissed by selectmen. Baldwin later withdrew his application, saying he had doubts about leaving Plaistow.
Baldwin also served in the U.S Marine Corps for 10 years and has been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, taking leave from his police career to serve in the Middle East.
He is also a former Timberlane Regional School Board member.
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62 comments:
Baldwin accused for misconduct AGAIN? Figures! He got away wish his misconduct in Atkinson so it embolden him to do it else where.
See what happens when dishonest public officials aren't punished? They continue to do it over, and over and over till someone gets seriously hurt or killed.
Like Consentino and those trained by Consentino.............they believe they are above the law and are untouchable.
If Baldwin isn't punished this time............he'll do it again.
How do you like what America has become so far?
SAU 55's goon scrutinized for unethical behavior. Top Cop can't understand it -- he isn't doing anything different than he always had. Billy B. was a member of the school board that allowed Buatti to continue to prowl TRMS (YES middle school) locker rooms for fourteen months after admitting to be a pedophile then sealed the minutes of that nonpublic session for 99 years.
So he's unethical and doesn't learn from the past.. You can count on his character flaws to get in his way again and again until he gets fired like his mentor. He can't help himself or won't, either way it's only a matter of time. Let's just hope they do another town wide flyer campaign when it's over.
There are two sides to every story! What happened to innocent until proven guilty? He's being investigated, not charged. Have some class and respect for this man who would save your life if needed!
^ another school board member, no doubt.
Name ONE life he saved. Better he resign and stop trying to control peoples lives.
He could hire out to a security agency or open his own . That would save his own life in many ways.
There are two sides but we are only hearing one side. If he wants to come out and explain what is going on, what the issue is and make his stand, that's OK. Until he does, he's just looking guilty.
Where there's smoke there's fire. He should go on unpaid leave till the issue is resolved.
Too many secrets with former police. Anyone hear any credible rumors about what happened TWICE? Twice is confirmation of a problem.
ET comments on this subject include one from KJones telling Mr. Ireland off. Who is Mr. Ireland and is this just an ethnic slur on her part toward Mr. Fitzgerald or did I miss something?
My instincts tell me that she is going into this biased and needs to step aside, maybe as a candidate for Chief if I'm not all wet here.
I'm all wet - Mr. Ireland wrote the article and has a source. Jones still is not displaying neutrality and that's bias. Not a good comment Ms. Jones.
7:46PM, A chiefs job is to know all of what goes on in the department. The chief gets to hear ,see, and deal with any and all things with in the department and the public domain. How can you say she isn't displaying neutrality and is biased in doing her job? Did she go around and tell what had happened,I think not? Lets wait to see where the actual real story goes before being one who judges the chief and Lt.Baldwin of your accusations. The people making the complaint[s] could both /individually go public with their story if they want to but the department can not until the investigation is complete. JMHO
She's pushed a reporter to reveal her source and she is prematurely praising him while he's under investigation.
That's not being neutral and is a show of bias. She went public by offering a comment, go read it.
Here's her post:
KJones :
Baldwin has more integrity than most people I know. So... I have a challenge for Mr. Ireland. Instead of hiding behind an "anonymous source", why don't you reveal your source and the two of you can come forward. We can sit down and I will even buy you lunch so we can discuss the cowardly ways of the "source" as well as the issues at hand, face to face like real leaders do. Who has the integrity now?
Interim Chief Jones - Plaistow PD
Unprofessional
Who is the anon source is the question here. Does Ireland really have this anon source. If Ireland can come out and say he has one publicly then he should reveal the source. Who is Ireland to say publicly that he does have a source when the police department has not finished investigating the accusations. If Ireland has spoken to the chief the chief would have told him to be quite about the matter and let the chief do her job to reveal the facts be they in Baldwins or the complaining persons favor.
QUIET.
She's the acting chief and she's indicated where she stands before the investigation is complete by the AG.
Besides, why should she tell anyone to be QUIET about any accusation against a public official.
Reporters do not have to reveal their sources.
I'm getting sick and tired of the troubled area officers and think it all should come out into the open.
She may be the acting chief but she got there by knowing what the jobs methods are and what is the way to do it. Yes!, it is her right as the job provides to tell any one to let the police do its job by saying to be quite in order to avoid interference from those who would do so. Yes!, reporters do not have to reveal a source of information. How would you like it if any one gave a reporter good or bad information such as what has been done here on you? Does a reporter investigate and process that information to bring any one to justice before a tribunal? If the reporter has all these rights to the justice process to get to the bottom of wrong things then why do we police in the first place? Yes!, I too am sick and tired of having troubled officers here and every where else . It takes a while to bring things out in to the open ,even if it is by the police or an untrained reporter in police work. Believe me when I say I am not condoning troubled officers but I do know they are always being under the eye of -troubled- people that will say any thing to have an officer in any kind of trouble. Let our and the system of justice do its work to find the truth in all the accusations whether it be police or criminal matters. JMHO
It's QUIET not quite. They have quite a different meaning.
BTW, the police are not doing this investigation, the Attorney General is.
Thanks for your correcting me. Any way my meaning was just as you did correct even though you are so right about my spelling mistake. Its what happens when you are going to work in a hurry. You can't say the chief isn't doing her investigation to protect the town along with the AG's office. We certainly wouldn't want the town of Plaistow to be another Atkinson with embarrassing costly law suits to pay off would we?
Right, and i never said she was doing an investigation, i said she is showing her bias. Plaistow is the new Atjinson with Billy at the helm and his boss groupie playing defense.
By what you said you did indicate an investigation was being made when you alluded to the word "bias" that you used in your blog. How can she be biased when she has to look into the matter as the acting chief? She still has to investigate it in order to do what she has to with or with out the AG's doing an investigation. Billy isn't at the helm,she is as acting chief. Do get the chain of command straight so as to not show your "bias" or lack of knowing how a police dept. works.The only groupies Billy has are here in Atkinson .
Bill Baldwin and I attended high school together in the 80's. We met in 7th grade! I used to consider him a friend. He was a fun, caring and compassionate young man. I don't know what happened between then and now, but I have personally seen a huge change in his personality and demeanor. One month ago he walked into my tanning salon in full uniform looking for someone that I know very well. He openly stated his opinion of this individual making unfounded accusations. Apparently his visit was an attempt to collect money concerning a situation that happened over a year ago that had nothing to do with me or my business. Until this time, I wasn't aware that law enforcement could act as the strong arm for individuals who claim to be owed money with no due process through our judicial system. After interrupting my business and gossiping about the individual in question, he further stated that I "screwed up an investigation" between two acquaintances of mine (once again, having nothing to do with me personally) several years ago because of a statement a gave that was 100% accurate. I was left to believe that he had expected me to falsify facts to make his job easier. After he left I was questioned by clients as to the nature of his visit. It was embarrassing and unprofessional. A phone call would have been a much more appropriate action. Maybe he will learn to think before he speaks or acts from this point on. Good luck to him!
An investigation was announced by the AG. I DID NOT ALLUDE TO USING THE WORD BIASED, I ACTUALLY USED IT!!. LOOK UP THE MEANING of allude, dude. She is BIASED, look that up too.
A phone call would also have been inappropriate. Thanks for sharing and I hope you are not the next victim of corrupt Atkinson past. Have you considered calling the AG now when it could make a difference?
Ellen, perhaps you should consider contacting the NH authority with the information. Thanks for your good citizenship.
The police are not debt collectors except for direction from a court. It would be a rare case of doing debt collection if it were to happen at all. The sheriffs or some other duly court appointed person would be the ones that would do it.---I wonder if that incident at Ellens place of business caused her more than just being embarrassed by Billy's debt collecting actions while in uniform. He if being in uniform technically says he was on duty at the time does it not? He'd be as guilty if he were in civilian clothes while on duty. What time of day did this happen?--- Did Ellen have any loss of business after what happened at her business place? The ways of customers gossiping being it is human nature to do so probably cost her more than just the embarrassment of what happened that day. JMHO
It was the middle of the day and not terribly busy. There were only 4 clients during the 10 minutes he was in my salon. Each were clients who have been coming here for years and would only judge me based on the great service I have provided. I'm sure I've lost no business, but I'm also sure that Baldwin didn't care about the impression he left here. An officer should be concerned about his reputation not only as an officer, but as a man or woman in his/her community. I have no intention of contacting the AG or any NH authority. When an officer is extremely out of line, they tend to need very little help bringing themselves down. I would hope this situation becomes more of a wake-up call as opposed to a career disaster. We ALL need a tune up sometimes. I would also hope that my input will reach enough law enforcement officers to get back to him, as well as any others who have let their position in law enforcement go to their heads. I believe that people go into this field of work with true and honest intentions of helping a community. Unfortunately, over time and only in some cases, we see officers become more interested in acquiring power rather than creating peace.
While I'm here, I'd like to thank those officers who have maintained their morals, values and virtues. There are far more of them than people realize and I for one, appreciate them! I also hope that anyone who reads this has a FABULOUS DAY!
The Atkinson PD is very successful under Chief Bracket. What a positve change from the disappointing days when Consentino and Baldwin ran the department. Now they are disappointing the Town using the same old games of information hiding, secret meetings and bully tactics. Mrs. Green is not the only person they have hurt with 91a violations. Consentino kept files on residents he didn't like and did illegal investigations on them. When he was fired, the records were seized by MRI and given to the Town's Attorney who offered them to the residents. Now that Consentino is Selectman, they won't honor the deal and thus violating 91a yet again. Moreover, Consentino collected the information under color of law, totally illegal.
A big shout out to the new and improved APD and all the good honest Officers.
MRI should update their ops manual.
Ellen, You did say it was mid day but you said nothing about his dress as to a uniform or civilian clothing that I can see. Either way did he have his badge being displayed. Was he on duty at that time is another question to be addressed, if you know. .. When you wrote that when an officer is extremely out of line,they tend to need very little help bringing themselves down I hope that you're right. I hope your right because they do have to carry firearms and having over whelming stress could cause an unfortunate incident to happen.
She said he was in full uniform. Pay attention.
The question of uniform or civilian clothing was put out there to be sure of the answer. The now Plaistow Lt. has always been in civilian clothing when I've seen him many times during the normal work day hours. Its hard to say if he were on a day off or on duty wouldn't you agree?
No. The question was put out there because they claimed she "said nothing about his dress as to a uniform".
Question is why we allow cops to bully citizens and allowed to keep their jobs.
Answer - you're electing the wrong people. Run for something. Get involved. Stand up.
All four towns should smarten up and invest in their schools....what a joke Green and the rest of the fools are becoming!
Hey Lenny...check with Laverne and Shirley...your nonsense is dated!
Leon to play Otis on the Andy Griffith show...makes sense!
Medication lane awfully quiet...must be in a group session!
Don't blame us
Just a nod to the other Sandown representative on the Timberlane Regional School Board, Kelly Ward. Thank you, Mr. Ward, for finally speaking up and stating that Donna Green does not represent all Sandown voters. We may be a silent majority but she needs to know that we do exist and she does not represent me, my views or the views of any of the voting members of my family. She is an embarrassment to a large segment of the population in Sandown and I for one hope the residents of the other district towns don't hold her against all of us!
Medication Lane is very active today. Hahahahaha.. Gasp....hahahaha.
Just a nod to Mrs. Green, Leon Artus and not Baldwin.
A nod for medication?
The wrong comment was deleted by the administrator. All eight of the following comments after that should have been. Doesn't really matter that the deleted comment was taken out because it had to have been read by other people before deletion.
Looks like we have an opening on the school board --- M2 resigned..
Any interest? Join the Green Machine?
Do any of you realize that you all look ridiculous posting on a blog these vile and vicious comments? It's a BLOG. Hardly any of you have the tenacity to even use your real name but hide behind your foolish anonymous comments. I worked with Lt. Baldwin in a professional capacity and can say he has more integrity than most I've met in my lifetime. Those of you bashing him are simply listening to rumors and have NO substantiation of any of your claims. If any of them were true, I highly doubt the town would ELECT him as selectman. Keep hiding behind your anonymous user names to bash a man with more morals than all of you put together.
You don't know us so how can YOU bash us? I KNOW him and I don't trust him. Do you really think that I want a POLICE OFFICER who has demonstrated untrustworthiness to know who I am? That would be dumb.
My experience has been different so have some respect for other people.
I tend to "judge" people as to "what they do to others they can do to me". With that said the track record of the conman and Billy are something I would be thinking about posting my name.
Alexis Kelly did you say morally in your description of Baldwin but you left out ethically? He doesn't have either or he wouldn't be in the trouble he has been up to now. He had a mentor that was even worse than he has ever been to have learned from.
if you could take a class in self expression, you might have an impact.
I believe I got my message across to you and any one reading it.
I'm not sure if the comment about a "class in self expression" is towards me, however I'm not sure one would take such a nonsensical course...probably the same place that taught all of you to hide behind your anonymous names. The Town of Atkinson is so worried about how others behave but don't think for a second how they all look on this blog. :)
I look just fine!
Just because you sign your name it doesn't mean you are right. Like I said I judge people by how they treat others even though they might be treating me right at the time.
When your in a position of power and your supposed to "protect and serve" you are to show the same respect for all residents and not just harass or intimidate the few that might be asking uncomfortable questions of you. This has been going on here for a long long time and needs to stop. If you are in one of these positions and have disrespected or even threatened a resident you should be lead out to pasture PERIOD. To worry about the bloggers looking "bad" you got to be kidding me. Every paper in this state has commented on the idiocy we have going on here at times. Our town has been the laughing stock of the state for a long time now.
Alexis , Get out while you can to avoid any more put downs by those who know what they are and do talk about when it comes to Baldwin
I feel sometimes we lose track of what the original blog posting was meant to convey and this one was simple. Bill Baldwin is being investigated by the County Attorney and the AG's Office. This is a fact no matter how Billy B wants to spin it. Let's find out what the findings are and then blog the >>>> out of poor Billy once he finds himself on that famous list.
You mean Santa's list.......
ha ha ha ha oh, I mean ho ho ho
Good luck atkinson!! look at Bracketts past.... Just saying....
Look at Conman's past. We're better off.
Baldwin lives right near a drug dealer and is aware. People have NO idea whop this guy REALLY is. He's stalked and harassed women for years using his authority!
This guy used to drop off drunks at Jack Halfners sub shop and pay the kids working to call the haverhill police to pick them up! Did it a few times. Was pretty funny.
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