Many rural police departments in NH have received grant money (from the State) to cover extra patrol, including the checkpoints. The grant stipulates that the officers can ONLY do patrol during a set amount of hours, etc., in order for them to get the money.
Have you noticed that fines, fees, etc. have taken a major jump lately?
More patrol... more violations found... more fines collected... more money for the State.... more funding available for - you guessed it - MORE PATROL...
I'm not saying it's a bad thing - I am saying it isn't necessairly your tax dollar funding as much as you think - it's more like the money collected from you doing 55MPH in a 35MPH zone - and getting caught!
If your PD, FD, etc., are smart, then they are applying for as many grants as possible and maybe getting some stimulus money....
...And about the dog licenses.... that's a practice of every town. All follow up on licenses - they have to because it's all recorded by the town clerk's office and reported to the state. Chances are the officer coming to someone's place of employment was a "last resort" and not the first - I have the feeling there's a little more to the whole story than maybe what you know or that your employee let on it (like, it wasn't the FIRST contact...)