DOVER, N.H. (AP) – The state Liquor Enforcement chief says he found law-enforcement officers gathering to drink after hours at a local bar last month, along with one of his own staffers. The liquor enforcement bureau, Dover and state police are investigating.
It was 2 a.m. on Aug. 27 when state Liquor Enforcement Chief Eddie Edwards pulled open the door of the bar, The Station House, and found the officers drinking.
The officers involved were there to drink alcohol served to them an hour after the state’s 1 a.m. cutoff, he said.
Dover Police Chief Anthony Colarusso said Tuesday he only caught wind of the alleged gathering when Edwards contacted him. “We immediately started our investigation after that,” Colarusso said. “If it were a larger group, other than just those few isolated individuals, I think I would have known.”
At least two of those investigations indicate officers may have gathered in the past to drink after hours.
“I can tell you that I am aware of it,” said Col. Fredrick H. Booth, director of the Division of State Police. “I’ve heard that we were not present at this one, but that we may have been present in the past … I really can’t say more until we have all the facts.”
The bar now faces one citation for service after hours, Edwards said. But bar owner Judy Kennedy said Tuesday that the pending citation is a surprise to her.
“I just talked to liquor enforcement myself this morning and they’re saying there was no violation,” she said. “They said we were clear and that it had gone beyond the point of citations.”
Kennedy said she first learned of the Aug. 27 incident when her bartender called her later that morning. “There was only that one incident that I know of,” she said. “I’m 150 percent positive on that one.”
Edwards said a violation against The Station House is still on the books. Typically, the business found guilty in such a violation faces stiff fines and the possible loss of liquor license.
Colarusso, Edwards and Booth all stressed the problem is isolated to at most one or two officers in each of their departments.
Because the investigations are internal, no findings or disciplinary action will be released to the public, Colarusso and the others added.
For Edwards, the incident marks the third investigation into alleged wrongdoing by a liquor enforcement officer this summer.
Sgt. Steven Lee ended his liquor enforcement career on Aug. 31, a few weeks after being cleared of allegations he pursued 22-year-old Justin Harding through Portsmouth and into Kittery, Maine, where Harding died in a car crash. Lee now works for the University of New Hampshire Police Department, Edwards said.
Edward’s second-in-command, Kyle W. Metcalf, resigned on July 11 after a July 8 arrest for alleged drunken driving.
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