On Wednesday, October 26 and Thursday October 27 Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. held the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office 14th Gang Conference, bringing together nearly 500 law enforcement professionals from around the Country to hear from esteemed speakers on the state of gangs and current crime topics including unserialized firearms also known as ‘ghost guns’, human trafficking and auto thefts.

Featured speakers included El Salvador Minister of Justice Hector Gustavo Villatoro Funes, human trafficking survivor Rebekah Charleston, City of Baltimore Human Trafficking Coordinator Tom Stack, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.

This year’s conference explored the transformation of street gangs.

“It is my pleasure to hold this conference each year to bring together law enforcement agencies from across the Nation to collaborate on our shared mission to suppress gang and criminal activity in our neighborhoods,” said Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr.

Featured speakers included:

El Salvador Minister of Justice Gustavo Villatoro. Minister Lic. Hector Gustavo Villatoro Funes was sworn into office on March 26, 2021 as the Minister of Justice of El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele. Since his appointment to the Ministry, he has promoted the use of advanced technology to combat terrorism and implemented laws and reform related to criminal policy, public security, and criminal justice.

Human Trafficking Survivor Rebekah Charleston, the Executive Director of Valiant Hearts, a ministry dedicated to eradicating sexual exploitation, and passionate about the crime of human trafficking. At the age of 17, Rebekah became a victim of human trafficking when she ran away from home and remained a victim for more than 10 years with multiple traffickers and was able to escape when federal authorities became involved.