Full Notification

In response to Governor Sununu’s Stay at Home Order, the Hollis Police Department wants to communicate with the public what our involvement looks like while the order is in place.

The order issued by the Governor is enforceable under New Hampshire statutes and remains in effect until May 4, 2020. The order gives state health and state and local police the authority to enforce these new guidelines. The Hollis Police Department fully stands behind and believes in the order issued by the Governor to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 through our community. However, our main purpose is to inform the public of the order, it’s importance to public health, and to seek voluntary compliance. CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT is not a primary objective. All complaints of Stay at Home Order violations should be directed to the Hollis Police Department.

We have been absolutely impressed with the actions of our community so far during this and we have every reason to believe the community will continue to do so. The Hollis Police Department is not approaching this order with an enforcement mindset. This is a public health matter and we are all in as good community stewards.

We highly encourage everyone in the community to abide by the order. Officers will continue to patrol and respond to calls for service, as allowed by our COVID-19 protocols. We have directed our Officers to not ignore violations of the order and make safe contact with violators to educate them and encourage compliance. Blatant, egregious, and repeat violations will be documented and referred to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and may result in criminal and civil proceedings against persons deemed to be in violation of the order.

As fear, anxiety, and uncertainty heightens due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we at the Hollis Police Department want to re-assure the community that we remain on duty just as any other day. We have directed officers to focus their pro-active enforcement efforts with patrolling vulnerable targets for crimes of opportunity such as vacated schools, business, and such. We will increase patrols for visibility in essential areas that remain open such as allowed under the Governor’s order.

We too are members of this community and want you to know we are here in this with you. By sticking together as a team, we are guaranteed to stay strong and vigilant so we can work to keep our community HEALTHY and SAFE.

In this busy and hectic world, we believe we all can make the best of this. Please use this Stay at Home Order to spend quality time with loved ones, play games, read books, exercise, be well and take care of each other. Rest assured that WE HAVE THE WATCH.