June 27 may have marked the first day on the job for four newly hired detectives at the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, but it will not mark the first time they made headlines.
Nicolas Logothetis, Connor Johnson, Aaron Shaw and Joseph Friscia had each made a name for himself earlier, according to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
“We consider ourselves truly fortunate to be welcoming four dynamic detectives who throughout their careers have made a habit out of serving the public with distinction and honor,” Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said. “Our sincere expectations for each of them is that they continue to build upon their already stellar body of work.”
Logothetis, previously of the Hazlet Police Department, wasted no time in building a reputation for diligence; he was the recipient of the 2014 and 2015 Mothers Against Drunk Driving Law Enforcement Distinguished Service Awards for leading his department with a combined total of 28 DWI arrests over his first two full years on the job.
He was also the recipient of a 200 Club of Monmouth County 2017 Commendation Award for teaming up with Long Branch Firefighter Frank Harris to save the lives of two elderly residents whose home was on fire.
Logothetis served Hazlet in the capacity of detective, field training officer, motorcycle officer, CPR instructor and radar instructor.
Johnson, previously of the Morristown Bureau of Police in Morris County, several years ago became the first known openly transgender law enforcement officer in New Jersey history; he is now the first known openly transgender detective ever to serve in a county prosecutor’s office in the state.
Also a designated LGBTQ Law Enforcement Liaison, in that capacity Johnson worked closely with the New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in creating public awareness of OAG Directive No. 2019-3, Law Enforcement Interactions with Transgender Individuals.
Prior to joining the bureau, Johnson served as a county correctional police officer with the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and a public safety dispatcher with Morris County.
Shaw joins the prosecutor’s office following 15 years with the Eatontown Police
Department, having most recently attained the rank of detective sergeant.
Joining the prosecutor’s office as a detective marks a homecoming of sorts; as a teenager growing up in the area, Shaw was a participant in the office’s “6 a.m. Club,” a summer youth basketball league and mentorship program that was run by prosecutor’s office detectives, according to the press release.
The detective mentors worked with the participants from ninth grade through college and the program inspired Shaw to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Shaw is the recipient of more than a half-dozen departmental citations or commendations for his investigative efforts on incidents such as a juvenile stabbing at Monmouth Mall and a shooting case that yielded the recovery of three handguns and a large quantity of heroin, along with two arrests.
Friscia, an eight-year veteran of the Union Beach Police Department, most recently served there as a sergeant supervising a contingent of 30 sworn officers, having also been designated as his department’s Resiliency Officer, assisting colleagues in coping with stressors inherent to the job, according to the press release.
Friscia, the recipient of the 2019 Union Beach Police Department Officer of the Year “Officer William H. Letts Award,” has a track record of working the department’s most high-profile and intensive narcotics, sex crimes and internal affairs cases.
“Our hiring process for new detectives is rightfully rigorous and for good reason. This team of new hires with these outstanding credentials marks nothing short of a wealth of riches for the office,” Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Acting Chief of Detectives John G. McCabe Jr. said. “We have every confidence they are capable of making an immediate contribution to our office, our cases and our residents.”