Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jan 2001
Source: Omaha World-Herald (NE)
Copyright: 2001 Omaha World-Herald Company
Contact:  World Herald Square, Omaha, NE., 68102
Website: http://www.omaha.com/
Forum: http://chat.omaha.com/
Author: Mike Recht

N.H. LEGISLATOR ADVOCATES KILLING POLICE OFFICERS

Concord, N.H. (AP) - A newly elected Republican state lawmaker has enraged
his constituents, party leaders and police by saying he favors killing
police officers when they cross the line. One police chief calls him ''a
hate-mongering lunatic.''

Tom Alciere, 41, won a seat in the New Hampshire House on his fourth try
after a low-key campaign last fall. It wasn't until Sunday that his
constituents in Nashua learned of his anti-police views.

Alciere told the Valley News of Lebanon that he loves it when someone kills
a police officer: ''It's unfortunate that cops do make it necessary (to kill
them) when they're waging a war on drugs, and I view cops as enemy
officers.'' He said he is ''too chicken'' to do it himself.

He acknowledges posting his views at Internet chat sites for months,
including this 1999 comment: ''Nobody will ever be safe until the last cop
is dead.''

State GOP Chairman Steve Duprey said Alciere should renounce his views or
resign. But Alciere stood his ground.

''There's no way I'm going to resign,'' he said Tuesday.

Alciere, a married father of one who inspects circuit boards at a factory,
said he was arrested for ''petty stuff'' years ago but never went to jail
and has no criminal record. He said his anti-police comments are the
''harmless rantings of a private citizen'' that won't influence his
legislative work.

New Hampshire has no procedure for recalling state representatives, and
legislators said they expect Alciere to serve.

''As despicable as the ideas are, the complaints against him are for his
ideas,'' said Peter Burling, the House Democratic leader.

With 400 members, the New Hampshire House is the largest state legislative
body in the country and many campaigns don't get much media attention.
Alciere admits he didn't advertise his views during his campaign, but denies
misleading anyone.

''Nobody asked,'' he said. ''For state representative, you don't have to
tell where you stand on the issues.''

He said when police cross the line, citizens have the right to use force to
defend themselves: ''Whatever is necessary is necessary. It sounds kind of
harsh.''

He is taking plenty of heat. Newmarket police Chief Rodney Collins called
Alciere ''a hate-mongering lunatic,'' and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is among state
leaders to denounce him.

Nashua Deputy Police Chief Timothy Hefferan said supervisors warn officers
to be careful if they get a call to Alciere's apartment building. He said
police usually stay out of politics, but ''I think we'll have to revisit
that policy just to enlighten people.''

Alciere's views got some publicity when he wrote letters to newspapers.

In 1997, three days after Carl Drega killed two state troopers, a part-time
judge and a newspaper editor in Colebrook, Alciere sent a letter saying that
except for the editor, Drega was ''an otherwise innocent cop-killer taking
out enemy officers in battle.''

The letter was never published, but became part of the investigation.

A short time later, Epsom police officer Jeremy Charron was murdered.
Alciere defended Charron's killer, Gordon Perry, because he said Charron had
no right to ask Perry and a companion for identification while they slept in
their car.

Alciere said his anger stems from reading and watching television about
police misconduct, and his belief that many of the laws the police enforce
are unjust.

But during his campaign, he promised simply to oppose any bills that
infringe on freedom, and defeated a Democratic incumbent by 55 votes. In his
previous runs for the seat, Alciere ran twice as a Libertarian and once as a
Democrat.

After the election, Alciere went online and said he was elected by a ''bunch
of fat, stupid, ugly old ladies that watch soap operas, play bingo, read
tabloids and don't know the metric system.''

''The same lamebrains who vote for politicians who are WRONG finally voted
for one who is RIGHT,'' he wrote.
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