Storytelling: WOW Trail is Safe and Fun

I write blogs that help to promote the WOW Trail—a bike path—in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. My brother Allan is a major proponent of the trail. This post features the Laconia Police Chief, Matthew “Matt” Canfield, who runs the trail regularly.

Four or five times a week, Laconia Police Chief Matthew “Matt” Canfield is out on the WOW Trail—running it from end to end for recreation. Sometimes, Matt is solo. Other times, he has his wife and children alongside him.

“I’m on the WOW Trail regularly, and I always feel very safe,” he says. “It is as safe as any other street in Laconia, and, certainly, I consider all of our streets to be very safe.”

A police officer for nearly 30 years and chief since May 2017, Matt is an authority on the subject. He says New Hampshire, as a state, is regularly ranked the number one or two safest state in the nation every year.

Matt oversees a staff of 43 sworn, full-time officers and a total of 68 department employees. He’s proud both of his department and the city his officers help to keep safe.

“We are not only heavily involved in community policing, but the officers here are competent and very well-trained,” says Matt, who was a full-time Laconia police officer for 20 years before he was named chief. “They have a vested interest in the city, building some of the strongest community relations in the state and serving as a model nationally.”

Allan Beetle, co-owner of Patrick’s Pub & Eatery and president of the WOW Trail, has had many conversations with Matt about maintaining safety on the trail. 

“The chief is a big supporter of the WOW Trail, and he and his staff have been great to work with in helping to keep the trail a safe experience for the many users out there,” Allan says.

Becoming a police officer was not Matt’s first thought as he considered his career path as a teen. In high school, he had his eye on architecture. He signed up for his school’s graphic arts program to gain the design experience he thought would give him a leg up. 

Then DARE officer John Egan of the Meredith Police Department came looking for a student who could help produce a brochure featuring that year’s DARE graduates. Matt volunteered, and John, now retired, unexpectedly became a mentor. “I got to know John, and eventually he asked if I wanted a summer job,” Matt recalls. “I met with the lieutenant, and the next thing I knew, I was a police cadet. I would walk around Main Street in Meredith and issue parking tickets, and ride with an officer in a cruiser in between.”

Matt was certified as a part-time police officer in his senior year of high school, in 1993, and when he headed off to the University of New Hampshire in the fall, he changed his major from civil engineering to criminal justice.

Matt says four certified mountain bike officers also have a presence in the city and on the WOW Trail, riding it periodically for part or all of a shift. The department is also poised to help make residents and tourists feel a degree safer by installing technology along the WOW Trail.

The Laconia PD recently purchased three portable video cameras, giving staff the ability to stream video live to the dispatch center. “We’ll use these cameras throughout the city, typically for special events like the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival,” Matt says. “As part of that program, it’s my intention to put cameras on the WOW Trail so we can monitor the spots in more remote locations.”

He notes that in a city with 20,000 permanent residents—and a population that swells to two or three times that amount in summer—there are bound to be isolated incidents. “As a whole, all our streets are very safe, and the WOW Trail is no exception,” he says, adding, “I think it’s a source of pride for our community.”

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