An effort to shore up security at state-run facilities following the fatal shooting of unarmed security officer Bradley T. Haas at New Hampshire Hospital in November is slated to go before the five-member Executive Council on Wednesday.
Safety Commissioner Robert L. Quinn has asked the councilors for their approval to use $2.75 million in funding on four top security recommendations: preparations for a security assessment, improvements in emergency response planning, upgrades to communication and notification systems, and the purchase of bullet-resistant film for high-hazard areas.
The federal funds for this initial phase of the project come from the American Rescue Plan Act, which Congress passed in 2021 as a pandemic stimulus package. (The stateâs Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee already signed off last week on this proposal.) Quinn wrote in his request that he expects another $3 million in ARPA funding to be awarded next month to fully cover the project.
The effort, which will include state offices near New Hampshire Hospital, plus the State House complex and the state offices on Hazen Drive, adds to the security changes officials began making in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
This initiative is among several underway as law enforcement agencies continue to investigate how a former patient, John Madore, 33, obtained the firearm authorities say he used to shoot Haas, 63, in the hospital lobby before being fatally shot by a nearby trooper. Madore had been involuntarily admitted in 2016 and had his guns seized.
A bipartisan team of lawmakers in the New Hampshire House introduced a bill they said would close a âgapâ in the way the state handles information about mental health adjudications that impact an individualâs eligibility to purchase or possess firearms. The bill is coming up Friday for an advisory vote by the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which heard testimony earlier this month on the proposal, now known as âBradleyâs Law.â
Other pending bills were also directly inspired by this tragedy. One measure would designate a stretch of Route 127 in Franklin, where Haas previously served as police chief, as the âOfficer Bradley Haas Memorial Highway.â Another would provide his family with the $100,000 death benefit he would have received had he still been a sworn law enforcement officer when he died.
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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
