Law enforcement is a necessity for every community.

They keep the residents safe and work to get justice for people who were harmed.

On Monday, Carbon County recognized these men and women with a special meet and greet breakfast. The event coincided with National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

Jill Geissinger, director of Carbon County Children and Youth Services, said that her office planned the event as a way to honor law enforcement, as well as provide information on what her office does. Children and Youth staff work closely with law enforcement in cases of child abuse, neglect, assault and other matters.

“We as a team thought it would be great to have law enforcement come here, meet our staff, greet them and have breakfast and talk about the issues that we have in common,” Geissinger said. “It is about protecting kids, promoting safety and their well-being and providing service. We can provide service together. We follow the same laws so it is really important that we have a good collaboration.”

Attendees included the Children and Youth Staff, county commissioners, sheriff’s office, district attorney and county detective, as well as members of Jim Thorpe and Lehighton police departments.

“It’s nice that we can come together as a group,” Jim Thorpe police Chief Joseph Schatz said. “It’s good to have camaraderie with our organizations and with Children and Youth.”

Schatz said it was nice to be able to put faces to names of Children and Youth staff his department has worked with on various cases involving children.

“It’s very important to know who you’re in contact with,” he said. “It’s also important to realize that it’s a good working relationship. Without having all the pieces of the puzzle, the outcome for people in Carbon County wouldn’t be good. So putting those pieces together and recognizing and understanding what’s going on, that’s positive for us.”

Lehighton Detective Matt Arner echoed Schatz’s thoughts.

“To me the partners that we work with for these child abuse cases, so today has been a great day for us to put a face to that name and know those people on a personal level who we deal with on a fairly frequent basis.”

Arner, who has served as the Lehighton detective for six years, said that his department is seeing at least one to two child abuse cases a week, on top of the normal caseload.

“It adds up, but being able to work with a great crew from Children and Youth makes it a lot easier,” he added.

Jacqueline Henry, caseworker II in the child protective services unit of Children and Youth, said this assembly was also good for the staff to get to meet law enforcement and discuss the matters that both of them face in cases.

“It’s definitely helpful when we have to go out to an emergency or into situation that we walk into, to have them know us and have our backs and help us with the family,” she said.