Our History
The Amy St. Laurent Foundations was established as the legacy of Amy St. Laurent who lost her life in 2001, a homicide victim during a sexual assault. It is the mission of the Foundation to help educate women and children of all ages in awareness, prevention and in the event it becomes necessary, techniques to protect themselves in dangerous or life threatening situations. The self defense program taught through Amy’s Foundation is the Rape Aggression Defense System, R.A.D. for short. The program was brought to the Portland Maine area in 2002 by Diane Jenkins, Amy’s mother. Jenkins knew her daughter would have fought her assailant to the best of her ability but also understood that women are at a disadvantage in most situations. R.A.D. teaches techniques that are best suited to a woman’s or child’s abilities.
The Foundation is staffed by volunteers and has 501(c)(3) status. Funded by donations, contributions and grants all money is put back into the continued support of the self defense programs offered at a low or no cost the community.
Book
Finding Amy: A compelling read brimming with insights about police procedure, politics, and real life investigation.
Attractive, intelligent and responsible, twenty five-year old Amy St. Laurent always called to let her family know where she was. A loving daughter, a dependable worker and a generous soul, she won the heart of everyone she met. But one night- and one man devoid of a conscience-would change all that. This can and does happen to many loved ones across the United States.
Speakers
Joseph Loughlin retired from the Portland, Maine Police Department in Jan 2010 as Assistant Chief of Police after 30 years of service. Loughlin has the historic distinction of serving in every single sworn rank within the police department. He served as police spokesperson for many years with extensive experience in media relations and was the Lieutenant in charge of the Criminal Investigation Division during the Amy St. Laurent homicide case.
Loughlin is a graduate of St.Joseph’s College, Standish, Maine with a B.A.in Liberal Arts and also holds a Masters degree in Adult Education/Human Resources development from the University of Southern Maine. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy command training program in Quantico, Va. and the Babson College Command Training Institute.
One of the founding members of the Peer Support Team and the Special Reaction Team Loughlin served as commander of that special unit. He has extensive experience in working with the community and also served as a Board member for the Center for Grieving Children in Portland Maine. He is the recipient of numerous police awards and citations over the years to include the Distinguished Alumni Achievement award at USM 2007, Citizen of the year 2005 for the Portland Elks club and highlighted Alumni and commencement speaker for St. Josephs College 2007.
Loughlin is passionate about educating people about real police work and the emotional toll it takes on officers and victims. He has published several editorials and magazine articles on police work to include a stories in “True Blue” and American Police Beat Magazine. He currently assists other police and mystery writers in their work and has started a new Book titled “No Reason”.
Please contact us if you are interested in having Joseph Loughlin speak to your business or organization.
Diane Jenkins, founder and director of the Amy St. Laurent foundation is available to speak to your school or organization about her experience in the loss of her daughter Amy and how she and others made their way through the ordeal. How this has forever changed their lives and how Amy lives on through the work of the Foundation in her name.