Dear Editor:

Yesterday, I attended a press conference where an app was introduced in furtherance of our RSVP-3 Program designed to keep students safe by monitoring “red-flags” through an anonymous reporting system. The purpose of this program is to prevent problems from starting in the first place, and one of the reasons students act out against other students in instances of school violence is bullying.

The internet has made bullying a commonplace occurrence, as it allows individuals to hide behind a computer screen, and often a fake persona, from which they can comfortably attack another without fear of retaliation.

They subjects of bullying suffer greatly, both at the time the bullying occurs and for the rest of their lives from the emotional scars it leaves behind.

Right here in Morris County we have had people take their own lives because of the cowardly torment of bullies.

In Chatham, less than a month ago, the Out of the Darkness Walk took place to raise awareness about suicide and help prevent the suffering that leads to this end. We have all heard stories of the impact of bullying and torment on individuals throughout the county, including elected officials who have had the courage to come forward and speak about racist attacks or harassment because of their sexual orientation that nearly caused them to take their own lives. No one should ever find themselves contemplating suicide as the result of the prejudice, jealousy or hatred that is manifested in torment by others.

I am absolutely disgusted by something I saw on social media today, directed toward one of our citizens, that is completely contrary to our efforts in Morris County to prevent bullying and the harm it causes. In Morris County, we have people who are of different genders, religious beliefs, sexual orientations and ethnicities.

I denounce online bullying and intimidation by anyone and believe that it should be accepted by no one. We all coexist here and there is absolutely no room in our community for intolerance toward others and the clearly documented damage it does to the targets of these cowards. Morris County does and always will promote a stigma-free environment, embracing diversity within our community and denouncing hate in all of its forms. There is absolutely no place in Morris County for bullying of any kind.

Heather Darling

MORRIS COUNTY — Linda Groszew took a circuitous career path to becoming senior program manager and volunteer coordinator at Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey.

A certified dental assistant and part-time piano teacher after high school, Groszew decided in her early 20s to pursue a degree in music education. She married while attending William Paterson University, and just as she completed her degree, Groszew gave birth to a son. Four years later, in 1988, quadruplets arrived.

“They kept me busy!” said Groszew, who will be honored for 15 years of service at VLANJ’s Dining in the Dark on October 24 during Blindness Awareness Month.

While her children were young, Groszew owned and ran an independent grocery store with her husband. The couple sold the store 7½ years later, and Groszew began looking for a new opportunity. Through family friends, she learned about New Jersey Foundation for the Blind (VLANJ’s former name). In 2004, the nonprofit hired Groszew as a receptionist, and promoted her to assistant program director within a few months.

Groszew underwent intense training as part of VLANJ’s transformation to becoming the only comprehensive vision rehabilitation program for adults in New Jersey. “I was fascinated by spatial reasoning and mobility, and I found that I really loved this field,” she said. “We created some phenomenal programs.”

Groszew feels especially strong about VLANJ’s wellness programs, which enhance participants’ ability to adapt to their new circumstances. “Our wellness programs are so important for building overall well-being,” she said. “Well-being can open you up to everything you need to learn; it goes hand-in-hand with skill-building.”

Another way to support VLANJ it to purchase bottles of wine for the wine pull. Cambridge Wines in Morristown is donating 15 percent of every purchase, click here for information. Select “store pickup” and VLANJ will collect the donated wines.

MORRIS COUNTY — In advance of National School Safety Week, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and the Morris County Police Chiefs Association on October 10 unveiled a mobile app called RSVP-3 Morris County through which students can anonymously report threats to school safety and behavior that could disrupt classroom security.

The free RSVP-3 app – which stands for Responsible School Violence Prevention, Preparation, Protection – is one component of a multi-faceted RSVP-3 program that Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon immediately began developing with the Morris County Chiefs of Police Association in response to the February 14, 2018, school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and wounded 17 others.

The creation and activation of the app was announced at a press conference hosted Thursday by Sheriff Gannon, and attended by Morris County Police Chiefs, School Superintendents, Morris County Freeholders, Morris County First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Zelante, and other stakeholders.

The app can be downloaded as follows:

• • • • • • • Go to the Google Play Store or Apple iTunes Store on your mobile device.
            • Search for RSVP-3 Morris County, NJ.
            • Click Install.
            • Open the application.
            • Enter a unique 4-digit passcode that you will remember and use as a log-in.Once the user has entered the passcode, do the following:
        • Select your location
        • Select the Town
        • Select the Affected School
        • To then report an incident or threat:
        • Select the action/tip you would like to report. There is a list.
        • You can add screenshots and attach documents.
        • Fill out tip report with all available information.
        • Click submit. Tips to the app are monitored in real time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by law enforcement professionals working cooperatively with school officials.

        The app was developed by Anderson Software’s P3 Campus, a tip reporting solution designed for the educational community. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office received $16,500 in start-up funding for the RSVP-3 application from the Sheriff’s Office CrimeStoppers program. Unlike CrimeStoppers, there are no rewards attached to making tips through RSVP-3.

        “The app is a practical tool to help prevent school violence and allow for the sharing of critical information between police, school leaders and mental health providers,” Sheriff Gannon said.

        So far, two public school districts in Morris County have committed to forming teams that will help law enforcement agencies investigate the tips. The app is available for anyone – students, parents, teachers and staff – to report a tip about school safety or a troubling school environment. All 36 municipal police departments in Morris County have signed on to the program.

        

        “Sheriff Gannon and the Chief’s Association have again successfully collaborated on the RSVP-3 program in congruence with the recommendation of the United States Secret Service “Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted Violence.” In particular, this app addresses step 3 of their 8-step platform, which recommends the creation of a central reporting mechanism,” said Butler Police Chief Ciro Chimento, president of the Morris County Police Chiefs Association.

        Morris County Deputy Freeholder Director Heather Darling expressed support for the entire RSVP-3 program.

        Darling said “As a freeholder who is committed to keeping Morris County as safe and appealing as possible, support a proactive measure like this app.”

        “We want to be ahead of any violence and we want to reach the person who is making threats, or behaving erratically, or whose grades are plummeting, and get them the help they may need,” said Freeholder Darling.

        

        The app is one element in the overall RSVP-3 initiative that brings together police, educators and mental health professionals in a multidisciplinary approach to stopping violence before it erupts in the classroom.

        The Morris County Board of Freeholders and the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) have each contributed funds used to pay for behavioral threat assessment curriculum and the costs of training school leaders and mental health professionals who work with schools.

        

        The curriculum, authored by Sigma Threat Management Associates, guides school leaders, mental health experts and police on how to evaluate and respond to threats to school safety in a scientifically reliable manner.

        “We are training people to distinguish between the child who shouts in a moment of anger that he will kill someone and the student whose grades are dropping, who is socially isolating himself or making disturbing comments. We need to be ‘left of bang.’ We want to reach that student – before the bell rings – and get him or her the professional help they may need,” Sheriff Gannon said.

        An author of the curriculum, Dr. Marisa Randazzo, in November 2018 trained 75 Morris County police, school and mental health professionals on how to develop assessment and evaluation tools.

        Dr. Randazzo is CEO of SIGMA and an international expert on threat assessment, targeted violence and violence prevention. She served for 10 years with the U.S. Secret Service and most recently was its Chief Research Psychologist.

        In May 2019, Dr. Randazzo and Dr. Melissa Reeves, the past president of the National Association of School Psychologists and former Chairman of the NASP National School Safety and Crisis Response Committee, trained another 40 teachers and school staff in May 2019 on how to scientifically assess troubling behavior to determine whether school safety is at risk.

        Additional training of educators and police on behavioral threat assessment is planned in Morris County this November.

        Former Denville Police Chief Christopher Wagner, now the Director of Public Affairs for the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, spoke at the event. Chief Wagner and Steve Forte, Denville’s Superintendent of Schools, said they are longtime proponents of the overall RSVP-3 program.

        “I don’t want to send a kid to school with a cell phone because they need to get hold of their mother because there’s been a violent encounter at school,” Chief Wagner said. “I don’t ever want a kid to have to send a note to their parents that ‘I’m scared because there’s a bad person in our school.’”

        State Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, also present at the event, noted that he continues to push in the New Jersey Legislature for support for A-5242, a bill that would fund a pilot RSVP-3 program specifically in the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union and the first class cities of Newark and Jersey City – all part of the UASI zone.

        Assemblyman Bucco said: “This is about our children. This is about our future. This is about the safety of our schools.”

MORRIS COUNTY — “A site-based assessment team from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA®), will examine all aspects of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office policy and procedures, management, operations, and support services, starting on Monday, October 21,” stated Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon.

Verification by the team that the Morris County Sheriff’s Office meets the Commission’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain accreditation — a highly prized recognition of public safety professional excellence, Sheriff Gannon said.

As part of the assessment, agency personnel and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public information session on Tuesday, October 22 at 3:00 p.m. The session will be conducted in the Freeholders Public Meeting Room located on the Fifth Floor of the County of Morris Administration & Records Building, 10 Court Street, Morristown.

If for any reason an individual cannot speak at the public information session but would still like to provide comments to the assessment team, he/she may do so by telephone. The public may call (973) 285-6053 on Tuesday, October 22 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon.

Telephone comments as well as appearances at the public information session are limited to ten minutes and must address the agency’s ability to comply with CALEA Standards. A copy of the standards is available at the main Sheriff’s Office located in the Morris County Courthouse, 56 Washington Street, Morristown.

The local contact is Accreditation Manager Detective/Captain Denise Thornton at (973) 285-6675.

Persons wishing to offer written comments about the Morris County Sheriff’s Office’s ability to meet the standards for accreditation are requested to write: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (CALEA®), 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155.

The Morris County Sheriff’s Office has to comply with 361 standards in order to gain accredited status, Sheriff Gannon said.

“The Morris County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Law Enforcement first achieved prestigious CALEA Accreditation in 1998 and has continued to maintain excellence and compliance with Accreditation standards that have increased in number over the past two decades.  Accreditation helps to ensure consistency in top-level service and accountability to the public,” Sheriff Gannon said.

The Morris County Sheriff’s Office was first accredited in March of 1998 when the agency was found to be in compliance with 337 standards. The agency was re-accredited in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012 and again in 2016.

Accreditation is for four years, during which the agency must submit annual reports, and participate in annual remote web-based assessments attesting continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited.

For more information regarding the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. please write the Commission at 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155; or call (703) 352-4225 or email [email protected].

MORRIS COUNTY — On Thursday, October 10  at the Public Safety Training Academy, Morris County First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas A. Zelante, on behalf of Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp, joined Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, Butler Police Chief Ciro Chimento, President of the Morris County Police Chiefs Association, and other Morris County law enforcement and school officials to announce the launch of a free mobile app called RSVP-3 Morris County, NJ. Students, school staff and parents can use the free app to anonymously report threats to school safety and behavior that could disrupt classroom security, such as bullying, harassment, substance abuse or potential violence.

RSVP-3 – which stands for Responsible School Violence Prevention, Preparation, Protection – is a component of a multi-faceted program between the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and the Morris County Police Chiefs Association, in response to recent school shootings that that occurred in our country.

The mobile app is live and can be downloaded as follows:

• Go to the Google Play store or Apple App Store on your mobile device.
• Search for RSVP-3 Morris County.
• Once installed, open the application
• Enter a unique four-digit passcode that you will remember and use as a login.

Tips to the app are monitored by law enforcement professionals working cooperatively with school officials in real-time, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Funding for the app was made possible by the Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers program, and the behavioral threat assessment curriculum on behalf of the Morris County Board of Freeholders and the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

“The app is a tool that students, who may not be comfortable reporting disturbing information in person, can reliably inform the police and school personnel to avert a tragedy,” Sheriff Gannon said.

First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas A. Zelante said the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office congratulates Sheriff Gannon, Chief Chimento and Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers Chairman John Sette, and the other law enforcement officials involved in launching this important preventive step. First Assistant Prosecutor Zelante said “This app will save children from injury and the after-effects of injuries.”

Also speaking at the announcement were Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Morris County Freeholder Deputy Director Heather Darling, Chairman John Sette of the Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers, Sheriff’s Investigator Ashley Craig, Denville Superintendent of Schools Steve Forte, and retired Denville Police Chief Christopher Wagner.

MORRIS COUNTY — Republican nominee for Morris County Surrogate, Heather Darling is poised to be Morris County’s first female Surrogate.  Darling, currently serving as Deputy Director of the Morris County Freeholder Board, has long viewed holding public office as a way to inspire civic involvement among young women and girls.

“Growing up, I could not imagine many of the opportunities available to young girls today. If elected to the Surrogates office, I will use my platform to inspire civic involvement among young girls in Morris County.” Stated Darling. “Throughout my time in time in politics, I have seen great strides forward, with young women and girls getting more involved in politics and public life, and I hope to continue the forward momentum by being elected as Morris County’s next Surrogate.”

Darling’s addition to the Morris County Freeholder Board made history as, at the time, Darling became the fourth woman to join the board of seven and, for the first time in history, women held the majority of the seats on the board.

Politics is not the first time in Darling’s life that she has inspired women and girls.  Darling was a competitive athlete long before women’s sports were as popular as they are today.  Darling proudly recounts that women would often come to her with stories of how she motivated them to pursue their own goals or dreams and the sense of pride she experienced as a result inspiring the success of other women.  Darling believes that the efforts of her predecessors, as well as those of she and her peers, are significant contributors to the fact that today women enjoy significant opportunities in professional sports.

If Darling is elected, she will be sworn into office in January of 2020, nearly 100 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, granting women the right to vote.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.

MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Clerk’s Passport Department has expanded its service to provide photos for passports & visas from 50 countries outside of the United States, according to Morris County Clerk Ann F. Grossi.

“While we only process United States passport applications, we are happy to provide a convenient location to help those in our community who need this service” said County Clerk Grossi. Our system is designed with the software that meets the regulations required by these countries. The cost for the foreign passport and visa photo is $10.00, just like that charged for the United States photos. Click here to see if your country is on the list.

Follow the Morris County Clerk’s Office on Facebook & Instagram for more updates and services offered to our community. The Morris County Clerk’s Office is located in the Administration and Records Building, 10 Court Street, 1st Floor, Morristown, NJ 07960.

More information and hours of operation can be found by clicking here.