On September 28, 2017, the Police Institute is excited to welcome Colonel Joseph R. Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, and Shelly Lowe, Program Development Specialist for the New Jersey State Police, as our next Distinguished Lecturers. Colonel Fuentes and Ms. Lowe will lead a discussion titled “Opiate Crisis: Professional and Personal Experiences.”

This Distinguished Lecture Series event will speak to and answer questions about the opiate crisis in New Jersey with a focus on heroin. Colonel Fuentes will provide information on the role of the New Jersey State Police in fighting the opioid crisis, the path of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF), and its impact on communities and law enforcement. Colonel Fuentes is approaching his 40th year of enlisted service to the State as a New Jersey State Trooper, fourteen of those years serving as the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

Shelly Lowe will provide her personal perspective on “it’s not just a disease.” Shelly Lowe was born and raised in Lakehurst, New Jersey. She and her husband Adam raised three children: Adam Jr. (27), Amber (24) and Austin (22). Adam Jr.’s life ended November 28, 2016, by snorting heroin laced with fentanyl.