NH police chief resigns over use of inmate help

Associated Press, hosted2.ap.org/NHWLV
BYLINE: Associated Press

East Kingston, NH

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The police chief in the New Hampshire town of East Kingston has resigned over managerial issues regarding inmate help from the local county jail.

Attorney General Joseph Foster said Wednesday his office became involved last summer regarding Police Chief Reid Simpson and the department's use of inmates from the Rockingham County House of Corrections.

Foster said it was determined that there "substantial mismanagement, lack of proper oversight and improper conduct" on Simpson's behalf, that did not rise to the level of provable criminal conduct. However, Foster said Simpson agreed to resign.

Simpson was put on paid leave last year arising from an inmate's break-in at the department's evidence room. Police said the inmate, left unsupervised, found heroin and marijuana. He used some of the drugs and took some to jail.

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