Members of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office Speak at LGBTQ Community Informational Session
Published on October 03, 2019
On October 2, 2019, Morris County Prosecutor's Office Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Samantha DeNegri and Detective Supervisor Patrick LaGuerre of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office Bias Crimes Unit, participated in the Morris County LGBTQ Community Informational Session for Law Enforcement, which was held at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy Complex.
L:R Supervising Assistant Prosecutor DeNegri and Detective Supervisor LaGuerre
Hosted by the Morris County Sheriff's Office, guest speakers at the event addressed prevalent LGBTQ topics. The Executive Director of Garden State Equality Christian Fuscarino gave a presentation on the history of the LGBTQ community, Chief Investigator for Middlesex County Department of Corrections David D'Amico gave a presentation on Law Enforcement and the LGBTQ community, while Morris County Sheriff's Officer Ashley Craig of RSVP-3 Morris County, NJ discussed suicide in the LGBTQ community. Supervising Assistant Prosecutor DeNegri and Detective Supervisor LaGuerre provided a brief overview of bias incidents and crimes from the perspective of the Prosecutor's Office. Following the presentation, a panel of LGBTQ leaders from Morris County was assembled for discussion and community resource sharing.
Due to the importance of this informational session, additional members of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office were in attendance including First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Zelante, Acting Chief of Investigations Chris Kimker, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, Captain Stephen Ortiz, Sergeant Keisha Higgs, and Detective Supervisor Leah Atterbury.
L:R Detective Supervisor Patrick LaGuerre, Detective Supervisor Leah Atterbury, Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Samantha DeNegri, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, Executive Director of Garden State Equality Christian Fuscarino, Morris County Sheriff's Officer Ashley Craig, Chief Investigator of Middlesex County Department of Corrections David D'Amico, First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Zelante, Acting Chief of Investigations Christoph Kimker, Sergeant Keisha Higgs, Union County Sheriff's Officer Erin Pentz, Captain Stephen Ortiz.
Prosecutor Knapp stated, The LGBTQ community is a protected class of people by law, and it is essential to educate law enforcement about the unique issues in society that they confront. I am very appreciative to all who participated in this important program.