Durham Police Captain John Lavoie adopts an optimistic outlook on law enforcement, despite many critical perspectives in the media. While Lavoie agrees there are flaws in law enforcement, he refuses to let that impact Durham.
Some of the most common complaints Lavoie receives from his patrol officer stem from the idea that it's a horrible time to be a police officer because people are dissatisfied with police behavior. Lavoie doesn’t think that this negative sentiment rings true in Durham.
“That is true in some places. I don't think it's true here,” Lavoie said.
Lavoie's history in Durham began in 2002 when he enrolled in the University of New Hampshire to study business. However, Lavoie expressed that his desire for a more fulfilling career led him to become a patrol officer at the Durham Police Department in 2010. He attributed this career change to his time volunteering with McGregor Memorial EMS, where he found he was passionate about helping people in need.
Lavoie noted his favorite memories of the force, as working with sitting presidents, vice presidents and dignitaries from the United Nations. In one instance, Lavoie was placed on the security detail of President Barack Obama’s Durham campaign stop in June 2012.
“You can imagine how that was. There was tens of thousands of people coming to this, they don’t even have tickets,” Lavoie said. “They just want to see him, they want to see him go by.”
During Obama’s visit, Lavoie chatted with the Secret Service while on duty at Oyster River High School. He was eventually moved to the UNH Dairy Bar, in case the president decided to get an ice cream. 45 minutes later, he received a message that the president was on his way. As Obama stepped out of his limo, everyone in the surrounding area on campus came running to him, Lavoie recalled.
“So that was super cool,” Lavoie said. “Where else am I getting that opportunity to do something like that? Certainly not as a civilian.”
Since 2010, Lavoie has steadily climbed the ranks of the Durham Police Department, becoming a Detective Sergeant in 2020, and most recently, being promoted to the position of Captain last July. This new role has required Lavoie to handle very different responsibilities compared to his previous roles in the department.
“Remember how I said I left corporate America because I didn't like being in a cubicle,” Lavoie laughed. “I'm back at my desk. I'm in an office now.”
One of Captain Lavoie’s responsibilities is reviewing shift reports from officers and checking that their practices and protocols meet The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies’ (CALEA) standards.
Although Lavoie faces more paperwork than crime scenes on the daily, he expresses he understands how vital it is to preserve Durham’s safety through high standards of enforcement. While taking pride in Durham being ranked the second safest American college town, Lavoie explained that when terrible crimes do happen, the department chooses to display the news instead of hiding it from the public. He believes that Durham prevents tolerance of crime through their transparency.
More recently, on April 3, Lavoie met with Andrew Macpherson, an Associate Professor of the Department of Security Studies at UNH-Manchester and a member of Grey Box Solutions LLC, to discuss better ways to manage data about car crashes and incidences of speeding.
Currently, accident data is very difficult to manage due to Durham’s records management system. Macpherson believed that a significant reduction of vehicular accidents will occur if patrol officers focus on these problem areas and proposed a high-injury network map created with artificial intelligence. He has used A.I. to take the data and highlight where crashes and speeding occurred the most.
Lavoie said he prioritizes the people of Durham’s speeding complaints when considering where to place patrol officers on shifts.
Lavoie’s efforts to improve the Durham Police Department haven’t gone unnoticed by his colleagues, especially Detective Emily Bolton, who has worked alongside Lavoie for almost two years.
“Even in these depths of the work that he’s doing right now, he’s making so many changes on the back end that are just going to benefit the department moving forward,” Bolton said. She has admired Lavoie’s genuine passion, from their time working on felony cases together as detectives, to his position as captain now. In addition to being a diligent worker, Bolton described Lavoie as a true mentor.
“[High ranking officers] tend to be like gatekeepers or not wanting to share information. He’s [Lavoie] never been like that, he will share as much knowledge as he possibly can,” Bolton said.
The Durham Police Department often collaborates with UNH’s Homeland Security and Justice Studies programs with capstone projects and ride-alongs with patrol officers.
Lavoie shared that discussions with UNH classes are most valuable to him. Specifically, Lavoie noted his visit to UNH Professor Katherine Gaudet’s course, What Is A Criminal, influenced him to reevaluate his own thinking.
When Lavoie returned to the station after his visit to Gaudet’s class, he brought the book, “What Is a Criminal? Answers from Inside the US Justice System,” into Chief Rene Kelley’s office and asked what Kelley thought a criminal was.
“We [Lavoie and Kelley] had a whole discussion about it. So, you know, that people [members of Durham PD] accept that [discussion] here. It's not like ‘stop talking and shut your mouth,’ m” Lavoie said, “You know, [the openness of Durham PD] it's like, wow, yeah, you're right. That's cool, let's talk about it.”
As Lavoie grows and learns from the community of UNH, he emphasized his desire to facilitate open mindedness in his work environment and service to the public.
