Stoughton police create LGBTQ+ community liaison position; Victoria Denneno debuts role

STOUGHTON — Late last month, the Stoughton Police Department announced the addition of an interesting new position in the department — the LGBTQ+ community liaison.

Patrol officer Victoria Denneno, 28, is the first officer to hold this position. She's been working on the force for four years and also works as a domestic violence officer.

Denneno said she and Lt. John Bonney came up with the position after a Facebook post prompted him to ask her what the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community is like.

Denneno, who is a lesbian, told him of the fraught history of police facing off against the LGBTQ+ community, citing the Stonewall protest of 1969 in New York City which sparked the Pride movement.

"Homosexuality was a crime back then, and so the police enforce against crimes, but the LGBTQ+ community pushed back on that for their human rights," she said. "... I can't speak for everybody, but I just think that that history can't be ignored."

So, Denneno and Bonney began discussing how they might bridge the gap between police and the LGBTQ+ community.

In the midst of this, Denneno happened to respond to a call where an LGBTQ+ teen was feeling suicidal due to struggling with their sexuality. Denneno said she spoke to the teen and they ended up OK, but the incident solidified the need for an LGBTQ+ liaison in the department.

Denneno said this role also plays into her role as a domestic violence officer, which was what inspired her to become a police officer in the first place.

When Denneno was growing up, she wanted to be a veterinarian, but in college, she met her best friend, and her best friend's mother had died as a result of domestic violence. That propelled her into a career in law enforcement, she said.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, studies on domestic violence in the LGBTQ+ community have shown that those in the community face domestic violence as or even more often than heterosexuals.

Despite the complicated historical relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and law enforcement, Denneno said she wants to bridge the gap between these two groups.

"I want to bring those two communities together because I want the police to be accepted by everybody within our community, but I also want people to not be afraid to come forward to report crimes for fear of being judged or being outed," she said.

When people are in crisis, Denneno said, police are often the first people they encounter, which means officers have to fulfill many different roles and be ready for many different situations.

"When people don't know who to call, they call the police. So we need to be prepared," she said.

While the liaison position is still being developed fully, Denneno said that right now she's focusing on outreach, trying to meet people and listen to their ideas. She said she's already reached out to the Stoughton Diversity & Inclusion Organization, and hopes to meet with the Gay-Straight Alliance at Stoughton High School.

Denneno said she is aware that because of the fraught history between police and the LGBTQ+ community, she might receive pushback from parts of the LGBTQ+ community.

In that case, she said, she hopes to educate people on the role of police while listening to their concerns.

"I do want listen to everybody's reasoning, because if they are pushing back, they have a reason," she said.

Enterprise staff writer Susannah Sudborough can be reached by email at ssudborough@enterprisenews.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @k_sudborough. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Stoughton Police Department creates LGBTQ+ community liaison position