“I’m an LGBT woman who is Hispanic,” Natalie Quevedo told Keene New Hampshire’s SentinelSource. “Just to know that the police force would like to make people like me feel safe, that is huge.”
Quevedo, a Winchester, NH resident, is also a community organizer, chief contracting officer for New York State Solar and now one of five members chosen to serve in the newly formed Criminal Justice Advisory Team of the Cheshire County, New Hampshire Sheriff’s Office.
Reports the Sentinel Source:
“Whether it’s recruitment, law enforcement policies or dialogues on legislation, the team drives the conversation,” [Sheriff Eli] Rivera said in an email Monday morning. “I am very excited with the wealth of knowledge the team brings and their commitment to supporting this idea.”
The current members are Susan Hay, a founding member of local social justice organizations including the Keene Immigrant and Refugee Partnership and Project Home; Peter McBride, director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College; Jan Peterson, a retired public defender with a background in developing alternative court programs; Natalie Quevedo, an active community volunteer and organizer who is also the chief contracting officer for New York State Solar; and Forrest Seymour, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist whose recent work has been focused on community wellness and sexual violence prevention, according to the release.
Quevedo, of Winchester, said the primary focus of the advisory team — which will meet on an ongoing basis — is workforce diversity.
She said she’d like to help expand the candidate pool for employees at the sheriff’s office and encourage people to move to Cheshire County from other parts of the country by ramping up the sheriff’s office’s social media presence and marketing itself more.
“I really want to be able to encourage more diverse candidates to move to New Hampshire and move to Cheshire County,” she said. “So they could see what a wonderful community we have.”
Across the country, law enforcement agencies have faced increased calls for criminal justice reform since this summer, when protests of racism and police brutality swept across not only the U.S., but across the world as well. Both Keene and the state have taken steps to bolster community conversations around racism and policing and also to hold officers accountable.
Quevedo said the committee’s objective is to make people feel secure in their communities. She said the team would like Rivera to issue a public statement condemning violence, especially in light of recent events in Washington. She also commended him for forming the committee to begin with, saying it’s a significant step toward making marginalized people feel more comfortable in their neighborhoods.
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