School resource officer Jason Defina is back to work after an extended suspension from the Hooksett Police Department for what his superiors deemed incompetence and untruthfulness.

Defina was suspended without pay for more than 20 days since January. He recently received a total of three-and-a-half days of back pay after challenging the suspensions in a series of public hearings in mid-April.

Two-and-a-half days worth of back pay were awarded after the Hooksett Police Commission voted to reduce the punishment of a disciplinary action filed against the Defina earlier this year.

The original sentence ordered he be suspended for five days without compensation, which Defina served in January. The discipline stemmed from a December incident during which Defisna’s superiors claimed he did not report a hate crime assault between two middle school students in a timely manner.

The assault occurred at Cawley Middle School on Dec. 11. Defina filed a safe school report, as required by state law, on Dec. 19.

Additionally, the police administration said Defina was not forthright when asked if any outstanding safety issues existed in the schools at a Dec. 16 public Police Commission meeting.

Defina, who did not reference the assault when posed the question, said he did not disclose information about the incident during the public hearing because the investigation was still ongoing. He also said the question was worded unclearly.

Furthermore, he explained he did not file a report of assault more quickly because he was off-duty for four consecutive days following the incident and that the school was simultaneously dealing with a much more pressing safety issue.

A cell phone video that contained sexual images of a female student at the middle school was leaked among her peers on the same day the alleged hate crime assault between the two students took place.

“There was a very serious thing going on,” Defina recalled. “It was a felony level.”

When Defina asked if he could work an overtime shift to deal with the multiple issues at the middle school, he said his superiors denied him the extra hours. He said he had no opportunity to file a safety report for the assault on Dec. 11 because he was ordered to leave the school when his shift was complete.

Police Commissioner Henry Roy, who voted to reduce the punishment from five suspended days to two and half, said Defina should have filed a report about the incident more quickly.

“It seems to me a prudent man or a conscientious individual would have made a call to his supervisor,” Roy said. “That does not take a long time.”

Commissioner Mary Ann Maksalla also voted in favor of reducing the punishment. Commission Chairman David Gagnon voted against the motion, explaining he thought the original punishment was just.

In a separate action, the commission awarded an additional day’s worth of back pay for another suspension that Defina challenged. That two-day suspension stemmed from a December incident during which Defina’s superiors reported he displayed discourteous conduct and incompetence unfitting an officer of his tenure.

July will mark Defina’s 10th year with the Hooksett Police Department. He has served in the capacity of the school resource officer for one year.

Defina and his union-appointed lawyer said they will appeal the decisions, as well as other grievances that were denied during the same series of hearings.

The cases will be presented to a nonbinding arbitrator, who will recommend an independent opinion on the decision.

According to the collective bargaining agreement between the patrol officers’ union and the Police Department, the Police Commission may or may not choose to alter its position based on the arbitrator’s opinion.

After the hearings, Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis did not comment on whether he thought the reductions of Defina’s original punishments by the Police Commission was fair.

“I think the process worked the way it was supposed to work,” Agrafiotis said.

The public came out strongly in favor of Defina during the proceedings. The council chambers in the Hooksett town offices were packed with residents on each of the three nights of the hearings.

Gagnon said the crowd likely came out due to curiosity. “There’s never been a meeting of this type in public,” he said.