In October 2022, WalletHub, comparing more than 180 cities across 42 key indicators of safety “from the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated and assaults per capita to the
unemployment rate and road quality”, ranked Nashua the 2 nd Safest City in the U.S.
The safety of Nashuans is a critical priority for Mayor Jim Donchess, and he takes great pride in the city team who earned this distinction for our community. In addition, Jim supports these
recent projects and programs focused on community safety:
Nashua Police Department
- Equipping Nashua Police officers with body cameras, a project championed by Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke,
- Together with the Board of Aldermen, budgeting five new police officer positions over the past two years so that the fully authorized force now stands at 182,
- Supporting the necessary renovation project at the Nashua PD headquarters,
- Supporting the Nashua PD’s recent wider-net recruiting approach of bringing in as new hires certified officers from smaller departments in the region, and
- Supporting the teamwork of the Nashua PD and the Division of Public Health and Community Services to provide mental health professionals to assist our police officers on selected calls.
Nashua Fire Rescue
- Supporting Nashua Fire Rescue’s and Chief Steve Buxton’s currently ongoing installation of a state-of-the-art traffic control technology to replace the obsolete Opticom system so
that the replacement technology safely provides the green light – and therefore intersection right-of-way – to our fire engines and other emergency vehicles.
Nashua Public Health
- With great gratitude, supported the round-the-clock response of Nashua Public Health to the COVID-19 epidemic in our community. Under the proactive leadership of Director
Bobbie Bagley, her department continually educated and updated our citizens about the status of the pandemic in our city, state, and country, tracked cases and outbreaks in the
city, led outreach efforts into our neighborhoods to provide vaccinations to our at-risk populations, conducted multiple vaccination clinics for the community at large, and so
much more. Nashua Public Health’s COVID-19 response was a key factor in the WalletHub designation of Nashua as the 2 nd Safest City in the U.S.
Nashua Division of Public Works
- Supported the city’s installation, under the leadership of Director Lisa Fauteux, of the Pedestrian-Activated Beacons at three high-traffic downtown crosswalks for improved
Main Street pedestrian safety and traffic calming.
