201603.03

Monthly Wrap-Up: January

OUT AND ABOUT : HIGHLIGHTS

DA Quinn served as a keynote speaker at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County’s Annual Legislative Breakfast. Here, he talked about the importance of our partnership with the CAC for efficient prosecution, in addition to thanking them for the support they offer victims and families. 15+ staff from the office were represented ***Executive Director Michelle Loranger announced that as of last week, the CAC now has National Accreditation.

DA Quinn made numerous visits to advance his initiative on elder abuse prevention. He visited and spoke to seniors at the Brooklawn, Buttonwood and Hazelwood Senior Centers in New Bedford. He also offered a full presentation on financial abuse with Second Assistant Sowa at the Freetown Council on Aging. DA Quinn was also interviewed by the Seekonk Council on Aging for their public access show for seniors, further allowing him to spread his message and protect seniors from abuse. Stay tuned for the full video!

DA Quinn continues to engage with the communities and residents of Bristol County. He served as the keynote speaker at the Attleboro Rotary Club meeting as shown above. Additionally, he also was the keynote speaker at the French Connections Service Club meeting, and met with residents at the Father Kelly Park Neighborhood Association meeting in Fall River.

DA Quinn also….

Spoke at the SEMA Police Training Association Reserve Academy Graduation
Spoke to at-risk students at Taunton HS enrolled in a ‘Taunton School to Career’ after-school program
Offered a reading at the New Bedford Annual MLK Day Service, and attended then BCC MLK Day Annual Breakfast
Toured Teen Challenge, an organization which has seen great success serving both youth and adults affected by opiate addiction
Attended Family Fun Night hosted by the Gr. Fall River Partners for a Healthier Community
Served his first duty as ‘Honorary Chairperson’ speaking at the official kickoff for Miles to SMILES

INITIATIVES HIGHLIGHTS

Opiate abuse prevention

One initiative being set forth by DA Quinn is the installation of dropboxes into all county police departments. About 1/3 of the county’s police departments had drug disposal units prior to our office’s outreach. Today, the majority of departments have completed all paperwork via our assistance, and are presently pending arrival of their units. ***In January, Mansfield, North Attleboro, and Westport received units which are now in full operation.

Elder abuse prevention

To enhance the office’s efforts to prevent elder abuse, these FREE kiosks have been delivered to all of the 29 Councils on Aging and senior centers in the county, as well as to Bristol Elder Services and Coastline Elderly. These will be consistently stocked with prevention materials to educate and aid seniors and their families.

More efforts in the community:

The DA’s office launched and facilitated a county-wide Sticker Shock for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week. Students throughout the county volunteered to help with this awesome effort. Large stickers placed on packages will read “Warning: 21 or Bust… Providing alcohol to an individual under the age of 21 is illegal” to discourage adults from providing alcohol to minors. Read more about the initiative on our website here.

DA’s office staff spent six days over the course of two weeks at New Bedford VOC-Tech giving presentations on bullying, cyberbullying, sexting, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and teen dating violence. Respectively, these were offered by Eric Poulin (bullying), April Cabrera (substance abuse), and Ashley Bendiksen and Courtney Cahill (teen dating violence). Additionally, we thank partners Rev. David Lima and Laura Washington for presenting on suicide prevention and opiate addiction respectively.

The office eagerly enters its second year participating in county TRIAD meetings. In January, staffer Eric Poulin attended TRIAD meetings in Attleboro, Mansfield, and Somerset.

The office continues to participate in issues discussions. Staffer April Cabrera participated in a panel discussion about the opiate crisis at the Gomes School Neighborhood Meeting in New Bedford.

Staff attended the Taunton Elder CCIT, Attleboro CCIT, and Fall River CCIT meetings (Case Conference Intervention Teams; a collaborative effort between agencies)

The office continues to give! One spotlight from January? Thank you to the Taunton District Court office for donating coats/jackets to the YMCA of Taunton!

The office participated once again at Westport High School’s Annual Career Day. This year’s representatives were ADA Derek Coyne, VWA Dylan Santos, and Volunteer Program Manager Brian Rose.

Office staff tabled at resource fairs during Family Fun Night at both the Tansey Elementary School and the Greene Elementary School in Fall River. The DA attended the Greene Elementary School Family Fun Night in Fall River and spoke to the 250 parents and children in attendance and assisted with raffling off the door prizes (healthy bags of groceries) to those in attendance.

PRESS RELEASES:

1/1 – New Bedford Homicide Victim Identity and Update

1/7 – Three Charged with Obstructing Justice Connected to Ongoing New Bedford Homicide Probe

1/7 – New Bedford Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Baby’s 2013 Death

1/8 – New Bedford Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Baby’s 2013 Death

1/8 – Fall River Heroin Dealer Sentenced to State Prison

1/19 – Taunton Man Convicted of Midday Shootout

1/21 – New Bedford Man Charged in Connection to New Year’s Eve Homicide Investigation

1/25 – New Bedford Man Charged with Accessory to Murder

1/25 – Fairhaven Man Sentenced for Child Pornography Conviction

1/27 – Suspect Charged in Connection to Homicide and Two-Car Route 495 Crash in Norton

1/28 – Underage Drinking Prevention Task Force Begins Sticker Shock Campaign