Not too long ago a friend mentioned to me that man in Keene had gotten away with murder. From the conversation it was eluded to that the man had not been held accountable because he wore on his costume a “Keene Police Department” badge and a nameplate that said “chief.”

I sought to determine the accuracy of the claim because 1) if someone had in fact gotten away with murder I’d want to do what I could to help set the record straight and 2) if true, it’d only underscore the perverse incentives inherent in the way “law enforcement” is supplied (and thus encourage those faced with the information to consider alternatives, especially considering that the person who presently has Qualters old gig requested an armored vehicle from the Department of Homeland Security).

My investigation didn’t turn-up anything that substantiated or refuted the claim. If you have information that could help put this question to rest please let me know.

Still, I thought it wise to share an overview of the steps I took and the information gathered to make the process transparent and to perhaps acquire additional related information from someone with more knowledge.

I started where most would start – by doing some keyword searches on Google. The learned the departure of Thomas J. Qualters on February 12th, 1952 was both quick and without reason given.

On April 21st I went to the Keene library and reviewed the microfilm from Keene’s local rag, The Sentinel for that date and surrounding dates. The lone article that touched-on Qualters departure was sparse in details (pages 1-2 on Scribd document below).

A helpful woman working as a librarian assisted me in locating a couple books on Keene’s history, including In Pursuit of Justice written by a former KPD employee (pages 3-6, & 14 on Scribd document below. It made mention of Qualters previous work doing security for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I detailed the rationale for my search the librarian. Initially I had balked at doing so since I thought she may not be too eager to assist with research that might oust a former KPD employee. Instead, she noted that if Qualters had been involved in a murder, I probably wouldn’t find anything about it in the paper. That makes sense – most local papers, especially back in the day when competing sources of information weren’t as plentiful, tend to unquestioningly parrot the line given to them by government employees.

The librarian did give me a print-out of a related Google search she’d done (page 7 on Scribd document below), but it only provided other data points on information already known such as Qualters previous employment.

I left the library, rode to the police department (page 8 on Scribd document below) and spoke with a woman behind the thick glass of the Communications window who identified herself to me as “Balcom, dispatcher.” She wasn’t too friendly.

Balcom told me she’d been there for 22-years and wasn’t familiar with a “Qualters.” She spoke on the phone with someone she identified only as a “supervisor” who apparently said the same. Balcom also told me that no related documents were kept in-house but suggested that I may be able to request records on his employment from Human Resources at city hall or that I should come back during the week to talk with others.

On April 25th I returned to the police department and had a similar conversation at the Communications window with one of Balcom’s colleagues who told me he’d been there for 30-years but wasn’t familiar with Qualters nor anything related. I went next to the Records window about 15′ away and submitted to Jennette Casna New Hampshire’s version of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) called a 91-A Request (page 9 on Scribd document below). Casna indicated that it’d be sent to William “Bill” S. Dow in the Clerk’s Office.

I went home and did a bit more searching – I found a couple of people on a genealogy site who specifically mentioned that they were next-of-kin for Qualters and were looking to connect with people who had more information on his background (pages 10-11 on Scribd document below). I sent them an email but have not-yet heard anything back:

Brooke and Ryan,

I hope you’re both doing well. I came-across your email addresses from http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/

This admittedly may be the first time you’ve gotten such a query, but do you have any information that might provide evidence that former Keene PD chief Thomas J. Qualters was involved in a homicide?

I relocated to Keene somewhat recently and after a friend from the area eluded to such an incident, I went to the library and stopped by the police department and all I could find was that “his resignation came with unexpected swiftness” from the Keene Sentinal on 1952.02.13.

I’m a big advocate of transparency and don’t believe badges grant extra rights so if there is in fact any credibility I’d like to follow-up.

Thanks for your time,

-Pete

On April 27th I received response signed by Dow (page 12 on Scribd document below) that began:

The nature of this right-to-know request is comprehensive and will require assistance from other Departments. It is our intent to take the time reasonably necessary to determine whether your request shall be granted or denied.

A few days later (apologies, I wasn’t thorough with this specific piece of mail) I received another letter from Dow that indicated that no homicides has occurred in Keene during the time-frame that I had outlined on the 91A Request (1951-1952) but that he’d located one related document about Qualters employment (page 13 on Scribd document below). I called Dow on May 7th and stopped by that afternoon.

I recorded the exchange and overall Dow was friendly and answered my questions. The lone document he had found was a form filled-out when Qualters was hired – signed by three individuals known as the “Board of Police Commissioners of Keene” that included a handwritten note on the top-left corner “Resigned Feb 14, 1952.”

Dow also had found a related newspaper mention from a Kingston, NY outlet (page 15 on Scribd document below) that only mentioned Qualters “resigned as police chief of Keene to enter private industry” and that he was being succeed by William T. Brigdham.

I found no conclusive evidence that confirmed or denied the claim communicated to me by a friend about the actions of a former “chief” of Keene police. Did Qualters get away with murder then simply quit – his secret hidden by the thin blue line? Or was Qualters resignation – a mere seven months after stepping-into that position, completely unrelated?

Thomas J Qualters Documents

UPDATE: May 17th, 2012 – a friend informed of this post on Qualters started to look into the situation a little. I felt it worth sharing here the response that I sent as it shares a bit more information that I thought relevant to share here as I strive for transparency.

You asked which of my friends communicated to me the information that led me to look into Qualters – I can’t honestly recall. I interact with a lot of good folks. It was something told to me a couple of months ago that I only now made the time to follow-up.

Also, one thing Bill Dow, the records clerk at the Keene outfit (they are a gang) said, was that in his search to fulfill my 91A someone mentioned that they thought Qualters may have stepped-down quickly out of protest for some legislation. That he had been so unhappy or just wanted to make a statement that he left his position.

Perhaps the lead that’s the lowest hanging fruit is to see if communication with Herb Frank if possible. He supposedly worked with Qulters back in the day and is in Keene. http://youtu.be/2gTtHxBDdKk?t=2m4s I just did a whitepages.com search and some related keyword searches but didn’t find anything.

I recently heard from a law enforcement officer about an awesome judge in Carroll County who calls the jail on the weekends on her own accord simply because she wants to make sure defendants do not get held just because the court is closed.  She legally doesn’t have to do that.  I think she probably does it because she is a good person who uses her authority to protect individual liberty.  I’ve never met this judge, but she sounds awesome.

The owner of this blog, and my friend, Ian Freeman, is presently attempting to legally require Judge Burke’s recusal from his present trespassing case.  This morning I added a response from the Cheshire County Attorney’s office that I view as the most detailed response from the State regarding the incident with the judge illegally ordering Ademo Freeman’s arrest.

Judge Burke lied to have a resident of Keene, NH arrested, and then shifted the blame to law enforcement.  How is this acceptable conduct for anyone, let alone a powerful judicial officer?

I would appreciate any ideas on how Ian should proceed.

The timeline of the case can be found here.

-/-

I’ve also heard from a lawyer that Judge Burke was Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway’s “protégé.”  If anyone knows anything about that, please let me know.  You can contact me anonymously by just searching for a random throwaway email service.

The County Attorney was, of course, the decider that the Judge shouldn’t be charged with illegally ordering a citizens arrest.

Federal law in the United States makes it a serious federal offense to possess a firearm or ammunition if you are a user of illegal drugs:

18 USC 922 – Unlawful acts

(g) It shall be unlawful for any person -

(3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled
substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances
Act (21 U.S.C. 802));

to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess
in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive
any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce.

If you use cocaine and get caught possessing even a single round of ammunition, you can go to federal prison for multiple years depending on where you fall on the federal sentencing guidelines as established by the United States Sentencing Commission.

If you are a federal agent or police officer and decide to use cocaine, luckily, you are exempt from the laws that normally would put you in federal prison for being a “prohibited person” under the Gun Control Act of 1968 for ingesting your choice of intoxicating chemical substance:

18 USC 925 – Relief from disabilities

(a)(1) The provisions of this chapter, except for sections
922(d)(9) and 922(g)(9) and provisions relating to firearms subject
to the prohibitions of section 922(p), shall not apply with respect
to the transportation, shipment, receipt, possession, or
importation of any firearm or ammunition imported for, sold or
shipped to, or issued for the use of, the United States or any
department or agency thereof or any State or any department,
agency, or political subdivision thereof.

If government agents use cocaine with prostitutes and possess handguns and machine-guns on the cusp of the very serious responsibility of protecting the President of the United States in Columbia, they can only get fired because federal law doesn’t apply to them.

They are above that particular law.

CopBlock’s motto says: “Badges don’t grant extra rights,” but in reality… they do.

This stuff is happening in the United States of America. Really.

As an officer of the Court, I must ask you to comply with the Court’s order and stand under your own power when attending Jason’s trial tomorrow. If you don’t stand, you may be physically lifted or imprisoned.

If you’re unable to stand or are injured, you may just have to explain yourself further.

Remember:

Jason Talley filed a “Motion To Refrain From Authorizing Physical Force To Demand Respect.”

The State objected and supported the notion of continued violence to make people stand.

The Court sided with the State in an stamped order.

Jason filed a “Motion To Reconsider” his original motion asking the Court not to use violence against the public.

The Court denied the “Motion To Reconsider.“

Around 6:30PM, April 12th in Greenland, NH, five police officers were seen standing on the front porch and peering into the windows of 517 Post Road. The officers were at the home to serve a ‘search warrant’ as part of a ‘drug related investigation.’ Kevin Clay from WMUR reports: “Police went to 517 Post Road and entered the home. They were confronted by an armed suspect.” A man who noticed the police officers on the porch and a cruiser on the lawn as he was driving by said that he then heard gunshots and saw police running away from the home. After the passerby pulled over to direct traffic away from that area, the cruiser went flying past him, presumably to the hospital with an injured officer.

A woman living across the street from the house said she was cleaning when she heard the gunshots and looked out the window to see four police officers running away from the house and three of them falling. More officers arrived very quickly and steadily continued arriving. The woman reported that an officer came to her daughter’s bedroom window and told her that they needed to stay in their basement. Other neighbors were told to stay in their homes and as the area was blocked off, other residents were prevented from returning home.

As of right now, the standoff is still underway: helicopters, SWAT teams, and police officers from numerous areas throughout the state are present in the area of the home. Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where the five officers shot – one who did not survive – were taken for medical attention, is swarming with LEOs from dozens of departments.

WMUR reports, “That [male] suspect and a female were still inside the home Thursday night as police tried to negotiate a peaceful resolution.”

It is very unfortunate that this incident occurred, and though many will blame the man who shot at police officers entering his home for the outcome of this interaction, he probably did not act with malicious intent. Reacting to an aggressor with force is commonly known as self-defense and generally viewed as acceptable and often applauded – unless the aggressor wears a badge or is deemed a “government official.”

Many have been conditioned to believe and accept the idea that police officers and other government officials have authority over them and that through the written word of ‘law’ and threats of imprisonment or force in other manners, it is acceptable for those with special uniforms or job titles to forcefully control the actions of others or use force to punish them for actions with which they or written ‘law’ disagree.

The officers who arrived at the home on Post Road were there to enter the man’s home without his consent, search through all of his belongings, take anything deemed ‘illegal’ if they were to find it, then try to put the man in a cage for possessing it. Although the men approaching the door of the Greenland home wore uniforms with “police” written on them and had a man in a robe also deemed to be a “government official” sign a fancy-sounding permission slip [search warrant] supposedly granting them access into another man’s home, they were there with the intent to break in to the home, steal his property, and force him into a cage.

I’m sure some will deny that police with a warrant entering a home constitutes breaking in; entering a person’s home against their wishes is breaking in. Some will say that taking items deemed to be ‘illegal’ isn’t theft, but taking somebody’s property without their permission is theft. Clearly a cell fits the definition of a cage.

Like I said, I’m sure many will blame the man who shot at police officers entering his home for the outcome of this interaction – but this could have been prevented. Due to the seemingly endless War On Drugs, a man lost his life tonight, four others were shot, and the occupants of the Post Road residence will either be killed by “government officials” trying to extract them from the home, or put in a cage for the rest of their life.

WMUR reported that the police were trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution, but peacefully is an inaccurate way to describe how this situation will end. As I just mentioned, many lives have been severely affected in a negative manner due to this interaction. Why? What did the man inside the home possess that would warrant people to come into his home and put him in a situation where he feels the need to defend himself and his property – a plant, a powder, a liquid? What drug voluntarily ingested by a person could possibly be more harmful than all the damage and despair caused by the War On Drugs?

People should be free to make their own decisions so long as they don’t initiate force on others. If people did not feed in to the idea that badges or government titles grant extra rights, this horrible incident would have never unfolded. The trauma, injuries, and death that family members of the officer and others in the community now must cope with could have been avoided. I hope this event causes people to realize the harm caused by the War On Drugs is much greater than the harm caused by voluntarily ingesting the substance itself.

If I were the man inside the home in this situation, I probably would not have reacted to the officers on the porch in the same manner that the man in his Greenland home is, but the United States Government is one of the largest criminal gangs in the world and he wanted to protect his life and his property from them. I do not advocate violence or the initiation of force, but I can not condemn a man for acting in self-defense; it makes no difference whether one is defending themselves from a random aggressor on the street or a random aggressor with a badge.

“In an ideal world, cops would do nothing except protect people from thieves and attackers, in which case shooting a cop would never be justified.” [Larken Rose from When Should You Shoot a Cop?]

Part I, Article 15 of the New Hampshire Constitution seems to be overruled by case law and “Rules of Evidence”:

[Art.] 15. [Right of Accused.] No subject shall be held to answer for any crime, or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse or furnish evidence against himself. Every subject shall have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to himself; to meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defense, by himself, and counsel. No subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; provided that, in any proceeding to commit a person acquitted of a criminal charge by reason of insanity, due process shall require that clear and convincing evidence that the person is potentially dangerous to himself or to others and that the person suffers from a mental disorder must be established. Every person held to answer in any crime or offense punishable by deprivation of liberty shall have the right to counsel at the expense of the state if need is shown; this right he is at liberty to waive, but only after the matter has been thoroughly explained by the court.

If you were on Jason Talley’s jury… wouldn’t you want to know that even the New Hampshire Attorney General is warning law enforcement officers from making arrests similar to this?

- Court order denying Jason Talley’s request to reconsider its denial of his earlier motion to refrain from authorizing violence to demand respect .PDF

Do you have thoughts on the content discussed? Points where you agree or disagree? Things that need clarification? How would you have answered some of those questions?

Below is the one-hour raw video of the civil disobedience panel that was published here on March 10th:

More:
http://copblock.org
http://freekeene.com
http://fr33agents.com
http://freetalklive.com
http://shiresociety.com
http://libertyontour.com
http://strike-the-root.com
http://nevertakeaplea.com
http://freestateproject.org
http://motorhomediaries.com

Not surprisingly, Robert Cunha was not interested in discussing aspects of the case. That the potential still exists for legal action to be taken against Manchester PD for false arrest is likely what drives the silence. See my interaction with Cpt. Cunha embedded below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Monday, January 9, Ademo Freeman and Wesley Gilwreath will be sentenced following their convictions on chalking-related criminal mischief charges which were ruled upon December 27. Activists have planned to chalk in solidarity outside of the court prior to the sentencing hearing.

I vehemently disagree… and so do members of the New Hampshire General Court.

Under Plymouth State University “policy” there is one man who can allow non-criminals to possess firearms for self-defensive purposes, and that man is Colonel Creig W. Doyle, PSU’s Police Chief. I hereby publicly challenge Colonel Doyle to an Oxford-style debate on the following motion: “Firearms and knives should be allowed on campus for self-defensive purposes.”

I propose using the Intelligence² US Debates modified Oxford rules format and that Colonel Doyle and I both choose two additional people to join our team in debating the motion.

This is a public policy debate worth having… and I would encourage the Colonel to step up and publicly defend the position he enforces.

Oh… and don’t forget to read New Hampshire’s largest newspaper’s response to USNH/PSU’s massive overreaction to our self-defense rights protest.