By Kevin Landrigan
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
CONCORD, N.H. — Flanked by law enforcement leaders, Gov. Kelly Ayotte officially launched a new bail notification system that will allow police officers to know in real time whether suspects face outstanding, court-ordered conditions.
“It’s another critical tool to help us keep New Hampshire the safest state in the nation. I thank the Department of Safety, the judicial branch, and the attorney general’s office for working together to bring this system to law enforcement across our state,” Ayotte said at a news conference at New London Town Hall Monday afternoon.
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Using a $500,000 federal grant, the new system links up all bail orders issued by judges or bail commissioners onto the Department of Safety’s State Police On-Line Telecommunications System (SPOTS) so that officers can see any decisions made in all courts on the same day.
“Today, we’re proud to share that the Bail Notification System is live and fully operational for law enforcement use,” said State Police Maj. Chad Lavoie who heads up his agency’s justice information bureau.
The information will also be shared with the Department of Corrections.
Network will update 700 bail decisions in average week
In the past, police had to contact the individual court where the suspect had faced a previous bail order and navigate through what State Court Administrator Chris Keating said was a “paper-dependent” system.
Keating said all court staff and bail commissioners received training on how to put information into this digital tool.
The system will include the name and date of birth of the suspect, the last main offense that created a bail condition and whether those terms included a do-not-contact someone order or other restrictions such as on access to firearms or alcohol.
Once a bail order has been rescinded or completed, that record will be removed from the network, Keating said.
“We helped launch this new digital platform for sharing bail information aided by the commitment and dedication of hundreds of court employees and bail commissioners who keep the system updated 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week,” Judge Keating said, adding this applies to the average 700 bail condition orders issued each week in the state.
Even with these changes, Keating stressed that police can still reach out and speak to court officials if they have further questions about a bail case.
Last year, Ayotte signed legislation that reformed the bail system, which included the requirement that an offender arrested for any of the dozen most violent crimes go before a judge prior to being released on bail.
One of the most significant changes was it lowered the burden of proof prosecutors must show to convince a judge that an offender is dangerous enough to be detained prior to trial.
In 2018, the Legislature approved and then-Gov. Chris Sununu signed changes that raised that standard to detain someone from “probable cause” of dangerousness to “clear and convincing evidence.”
Less than a year after that law passed, Sununu said it did not work as intended and he tried for several years to persuade lawmakers to change it.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire opposed making the Ayotte-backed bail law, calling it “anti-liberty and anti-due process.”
Crime rates had declined after the 2018 bail law changes, the ACLU maintained.
“Our departments are already seeing a tremendous difference with the new bail law in place, and the new bail notification system will be a major boost to our efforts to keep our communities safe,” said New London Police Chief Emily Cobb.
Attorney General John Formella said the upgrade was essential to making the bail law changes most effective.
He noted the multiple reports on the murder of Marisol Fuentes by her estranged husband in July 2025 exposed multiple breakdowns in communication between police and court officials.
“I firmly believe if we had better systems in place to communicate information in a timely manner. we could have had a much better chance of preventing what happened to Marisol Fuentes,” Formella said.
Michael Gleason, Fuentes’ estranged husband, shot her to death at the Berlin restaurant where she worked before killing himself.
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klandrigan@unionleader.com
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