Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*           Date: April 20, 2010

 
 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Police set conference to combat bias crimes

 

 

          Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan  today announced that 80 law enforcement officers have signed up to attend an annual conference aimed at training police officers to handle bias-related crimes.

 

The conference, set for April 21, 2010, will be held in the main theater at the Middlesex County Fire Training Academy in Sayreville between

9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

 

Law enforcement officers from New Jersey and from New York City will attend the day-long session, which will provide information on how to identify bias crimes and help those who have been victimized. In addition, officers will learn techniques for bringing cases against those who commit hate crimes.

 

Guest speakers include Michael Ward, agent in charge of the FBI in New Jersey, who will discuss bias crimes and intervention by the federal government.

 

Also scheduled to address the group are Deputy Attorney General Jacqueline Smith, who oversees bias crime investigations in New Jersey, and Reinaldo Rivera, regional director of the Northeast Caribbean Region, Department of Justice Community Relations Services.

 

In addition to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the event is being sponsored by the New Jersey Bias Crimes Officers’ Association, a unit dedicated to combating hate crimes in the state.

 

Other sponsors include the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network, or MAGLOCLEN, a multi-state information sharing system for police.