As a teenager growing up in Portsmouth, Valerie Cunningham was proud of her family’s African American heritage, but she was also curious about local Black history. While working at Portsmouth Public Library, she discovered Brewster’s Rambles About Portsmouth. From Brewster’s stories about local Blacks, Valerie found clues to a history that until then had been invisible. She began a quest that would consume the rest of her life as researcher, historian and chronicler of Black Portsmouth from 1645 to present day.
On Tuesday, the Portsmouth Police Commission voted unanimously to have the city’s police department start collecting data on every police stop of a civilian — not just those that result in a written warning, citation or arrest.
The decision comes after a proposal to require similar data collection by all police departments in New Hampshire failed in the State House earlier this year.
