Acting Sergeant Joe Morquecho is a native of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area whose career in public service began as an EMT firefighter with the Department of Fire and Rescue of Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1990, Joe joined the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department where he worked in Patrol Services until 1997. It was then that he became a Crime Scene Investigator until 2001, when he took on the task of Tactical Flight Officer for the department's Special Operations Air Support. It was in 2002 that he joined the GLLU, which he currently serves. He is also a volunteer for the Montgomery County Rescue Squad. E-mail Joe at .
	Officer Juanita M. Foreman was born and raised in the Metropolitan area and has been with the Department for 18 years. She graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt Senior High School in Greenbelt, MD. She was a four-year letterman for the girl's varsity basketball team. As a freshman, Juanita and her teammates were runner's up to the state champions; also as a senior she received ALL-MET honors, which labeled her as one of the top players in the area. She then received a four-year scholarship to St. Peter's College in Jersey City, NJ. While playing basketball for her college team, Juanita received honors such as the All-MAAC Conference first team, and second team in consecutive years including the All State of NJ first team. Juanita was inducted into the schools Hall of Fame. She then received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Peter's College in Jersey City, NJ, with a minor in psychology, graduating with the class of 1989. Juanita joined the Metropolitan Police Department in May 1990. She was assigned to the 7th District (in the S.E. quadrant of the city) where she patrolled for 13 years. In May 2003 she joined the GLLU where she currently serves. Email Juanita at .
	Officer Kevin Johnson Jr. was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and first served MPDC part-time as a Police Cadet in 1990 while still attending McKinely Tech. Sr. High School at the age of 17. After graduating in 1991 he continued to serve as a Police Cadet Program full time and attended the University of the District of Columbia. He then entered the MPDC Training Academy, graduated in 1992 and was then assigned to the Seventh District Station Patrol Section. Then later as a School Resource Officer serving in the Anasocita Area of Washington, D.C. Kevin was transfered to the GLLU in 2006. Kevin is married with two children and is currently living in Washington, D.C. Kevin is dedicated to his family and serving the community.
	Sergeant Pat Howell has been a member of the MPD Reserve Corps since 1987, serving in the Fourth District. She became a sergeant in 1993, and subsequently passed the exam to become a Lieutenant. She has worked patrol on Midnights since August of 1987; and was the co-founder (along with Reserve Officer Morris Cole) of the 4-D Reserve Power Shift in 1995. From 1988-1995, she was a familiar face at the Georgetown Detail during Summer months, protecting the citizens by handling traffic control at the intersection of Wisconsin and M. As part of her commitment to safe streets in the District of Columbia, she has worked over 80 Sobriety Checkpoints, Seatbelt Checkpoints and Child Safety Restraint Checkpoints in all of the 7 police districts. As a self-proclaimed 'adrenalin junkie', Pat got itchy feet in 2005, and finding the Fourth District to be 'not exciting enough', she turned down the opportunity to be promoted to Lieutenant and to take over the command of the 4-D Reserve Corps. Also, she confesses that her attachment to wearing her BDUs (the less formal Battle Dress Uniform) convinced her she definitely did not want to be promoted to Lieutenant, since only those with the rank of Sergeant and below may wear the BDU. An invitation to work with Sgt. Parson and the members of GLLU came at the right time, and Pat joined GLLU in October 2005. A native Washingtonian, it was while studying Criminal Justice at George Washington University that she worked on the 'Women in Policing' research project for three years, thus opening the door to her love of policing. Pat lives in Takoma Park with her four cats. She owns a company that designs and builds residential gardens. "I am committed to leaving the world a more beautiful place, and my 'passions' : gardening and promoting safe streets are moving me in the right direction." Pat's other passions are visiting interesting gardens, and eating out with her Food Posse. But the biggest passion of all: playing goofy games with her two grandsons, Henry and Michael.
	Sterling Spangler is a member of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Police Auxiliary and has been part of the GLLU since 2001, currently serving as the Volunteer Services Coordinator among other roles. He's a native West Virginian who moved to the Washington D.C. metropolitan area in 1990. He was a multimedia graphic designer and public outreach specialist at NASA until 2005, when he ventured out on his own as a freelancer. Sterling also serves as President of the Washington D.C. Chapter of the Concerns of Police Survivors (DC-COPS), an organization that provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. He has been making inroads in providing recognition to fallen GLBT law enforcement personnel and their survivors, and reaching out to those who must remain 'quiet' about their lives because of the town or agency where they work. He is in the process of creating a national Invisible Survivors network that will hopefully create a community of support, since many feel isolated and their grief unrecognized. Partly due of his efforts, there are GLBT-policing seminars held during annual National Police Week in May as well as a new 'Significant Others' retreat held in the mid-west in the summer for those not legally recognized as survivors of police officers killed while on duty. Sterling also acts as Consultant and Assistant Manager of the DC Generals, a metropolitan area police and fire football team, which is part of the National Public Safety Football League. The team competes locally and across the country to raise money for police and fire charities, in this case DC-COPS and the Washington Burn Foundation. Sterling proudly continues to give all the time and support he is able to the GLLU. He created and continues to produce many of the GLLU's outreach items including the logo, web site, fact sheets, banners, calendars, and a series of Hate Crimes posters (in conjunction with the Department of Justice). Using his skills and many years of experience, Sterling will play a major part in the creation of new outreach products to support the GLLU's replication efforts across the country. You can contact Sterling at .
	Ms. Tomï Finkle is a member of the Metropolitan Police Department's Police Auxiliary Service and is assigned to the GLLU since 2002. She serves as an Administrative Community Relations Specialist. Tomï (pronounced with a long "i") brings a wealth of professionalism and experience to the Department. In March of 2008 she was officially accepted into the Department's Reserve Officer Program. Tomï was born in the District of Columbia and has lived within the D.C. Metropolitan area her entire life. She has a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice, is a retired Sergeant of the United States Capitol Police, and has over 25 years of honorable service as a sworn law enforcement officer. Her law enforcement background includes: victim-witness assistance, domestic violence, hate crimes, public relations, security awareness, emergency preparedness, investigations and evidence recovery. She has received the Police Officer of the Year Award for an act of Bravery and a Police Administration Service Award. In addition to being a LGBT diversity awareness facilitator, she is a certified Department of Homeland Security, Incident Command System (ICS) instructor. Tomï has dedicated her life to public safety and also serves as the Commander of a Search and Rescue Mounted Team that responds to lost or missing person incidents within FEMA Region III.
	Matt Ashburn joined the Metropolitan Police Department in 2004 to support community outreach and make use of his computer skills. In his day job, he works for the U.S. Government, and recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering. When he's not busy working, he enjoys biking, hiking, and camping.
	Officer Kelly Collins-McMurry was one of the original co-founders of the GLLU. She joined the Metropolitan Police Department in May 1992 and made crime fighting her second career. She worked in the Fifth and Second Police Districts before she helped create the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU). Before becoming a cop, Kelly worked as a magazine writer and editor for Regardie's Magazine, Trial Magazine, Legal Times, Ohio Magazine, and Columbus Monthly. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from Ohio University, graduating summa cum laude in 1984. It was Kelly's perseverance and dedication that helped make the GLLU what it is today. In an exciting change of scenery, Kelly and her partner, Marcia Collins-McMurry, moved from MPDC and are now training police officers in Eastern Europe.
	Officer Rosa Roldan-Torres is a full-time member of the Latino Liaison Unit and we are proud to also have her as part of the GLLU on an "as-needed" basis. Rosa is a former 4D officer with many years of MPDC experience. As a native Puerto Rican, she speaks Spanish fluently and can assist the GLLU with cases involving members of the Latino GLBT communities. Rosa can be reached via her MPDC pager at: (202) 996-1342.
	Acting Lieutenant Brett Parson has been serving MPDC since 1994 and served as the GLLU's commander from June 2001 until January 2007. He is currently assigned to the Executive Office of the Chief of Police, where he commands the department's Special Liaison Unit (SLU) and is an assistant to Chief Cathy Lanier. Parson and Lanier were partners at the beginnings of the their careers. Under Parson's command are the department's four liaison units (Gay and Lesbian, Latino, Asian and Deaf and Hard of Hearing). He also supervises the department's Family Support Team (FST), which is responsible for response to traumatic events involving the critical injury or death of MPDC's current and/or retired members. His career has taken him to all corners of the District of Columbia, serving first as an officer and patrol supervisor in the Fourth District, in the city's Northwest quadrant, where he worked with Chief Lanier. While at the Fourth District, Brett worked in patrol, Vice/Narcotics, Gun Recovery, and Investigations and served on several workgroups and committees. He has specialized in the enforcement of alcohol related crimes, as well as Domestic Violence investigations and has been recognized by the department, community and other agencies many times for his work, to include victim advocacy. In 1999, he was transferred to the Sixth District (Southeast and Northeast quadrants of the city), where he was a patrol and investigative supervisor. He briefly supervised the Violent Crimes Investigative Unit, which is responsible for homicide and other violent crime investigations. From the Sixth District, Brett moved to the Major Narcotics Branch, where he supervised the city's elite Narcotics Strike Force, which infiltrates areas of violent crimes and conducts undercover narcotics operations. And then Chief Ramsey transferred him... Brett arrived at the GLLU in June of 2001, joining co-founder, Officer Kelly McMurry. Despite often being credited with starting the GLLU, Parson joined one year after it was created by Officer Kelly McMurry and (currently Sergeant) Officer Bredet Williams. Upon his arrival, he endeavored to keep the GLLU on the street and in the community. A street officer at heart, even though assigned to a specialized unit, Brett is seen and heard in all parts of the city responding to calls for service. Since leaving the GLLU, he continues to speak publicly regarding GLBT issues, and trains law enforcement in ways to better serve the GLBT communities. Community members, law enforcement and the media have recognized Brett (and the entire GLLU Staff) as a national leader in GLBT-Police relations. Brett is nationally recognized as a resource for investigations involving crimes by, and against the GLBT communities. He believes strongly in the GLLU slogan, "We are in the community for you," and demands the GLLU venture to events, activities and locations traditionally foreign and/or taboo to police officers. Brett built a staff, which represents the GLBT and greater community spectrum, utilizing the talents of sworn and civilian volunteers from throughout the Metropolitan Police Department and the GLBT communities. In recognition of this unique work, the GLLU was named the winner of the 2006 Innovations in American Government Award, by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government – Ashe Institute. Brett received his B.A. (Criminal Justice/Spanish) from the University of Maryland at College Park (Go Terps!). From 1991-1993, he pursued his M.A. at the same school, studying Criminal Justice and Counseling. As a former professional ice hockey official, teacher, pool manager, resident director and host of other odd jobs, Brett has an eclectic background. In his off-time (when does he have off-time?), Brett enjoys travel (especially visiting his two nieces, Mackenzie and Katelyn), speaking publicly to anyone who will listen, working out and spending time with his life-partner, Chris Grasso, a Washington musician. A native Washingtonian and current resident, Brett's parents still live in the area, allowing him to unwind with family and life-long friends. Email Brett at brett.parson@dc.gov.

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