We bid a fond farewell to Lori Scott-Pickens (Scott-Pickens), known to her students as Director Scott-Pickens, who will be exploring new adventures. Scott-Pickens has been with Rutgers University-Newark’s School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) for over 22 years. She was initially recruited by the late Dr. George Kelling to serve as Deputy Executive Director of the Police Institute (PI) at Rutgers, which he founded. In that capacity, she served as a representative of SCJ and an advisor to many community and law enforcement collaborations representing the SCJ.

The Police Institute served as the neutral convener for several community and law enforcement collaborations: the Greater Newark Safer Cities, the Serious and Violent Offender Re-Entry Initiatives, Operation Cease-Fire, the Gun Strategy, Newark Violence Reduction Initiative and four of the five Fugitive Safe Surrender programs held in Newark, New Brunswick, Atlantic City and Jersey City, where NJ leads the nation in serving more than 17,000 participants.

Later she was named as the Director of Community Outreach for the SCJ. In that role she served as the liaison between criminal justice partners across the criminal justice continuum and the SCJ. And for several years Scott-Pickens served as a Part-time Lecturer for the Internship Course for BA and MA students, successfully assisting students in securing employment.

Scott-Pickens has worked for some of Newark’s premiere non-profit organizations: the Advocates for Children of New Jersey, Unified Vailsburg Services Organization (UVSO), Newark Fighting Back Partnership Inc. and Community Agencies Corp of NJ. She was also a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and Board President of the Newark School of the Arts/UVSO. Currently, Scott-Pickens serves as an Advisor to the Rutgers Newark Public Safety Collaborative.

Scott-Pickens is a committed community advocate for children and families and an active member of various organizations involved in criminal and social justice on both the local and national levels. She has been contributed to the development of several publications, grants and articles on behalf of Newark’s children and families. She served two terms as co-chair of the Essex Vicinage’s Advisory Committee on Minority Concerns and is a Commissioner for the Youth Services Commission of Essex County. She has also been a Board Member of the US Department of Justice’s COPS Office’s Policing Resource Advisory Board, appointed by the then Clinton Administration. Ms. Scott-Pickens has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work and has received a BA in Sociology from Montclair State University and an MA Degree in Public Affairs and Administration from Rutgers University.