Administrative Services Unit

RECORDS AND EVIDENCE SECTION:

The Records and Evidence Section of the Administrative Services Unit is responsible for the inventory and maintenance of the office equipment and arsenal, storing seized weapons, destroying out of date files and safeguarding the tremendous amount of homicide evidence amassed by the office. The Section is also responsible for the registration and return of seized vehicles as well as for maintaining monthly maintenance and mileage records for Prosecutor's Office vehicles.

FORENSIC SCIENCE/IDENTIFICATION SECTION:

The Forensic Science/Identification Section provides invaluable technical services to other units in the Prosecutor's Office and for municipal law enforcement agencies in Union County. Services most often provided to outside agencies included fingerprint comparisons, crime scene processing and identification and the forensic processing of recovered carjacked vehicles. The Section also provides instructors to the John H. Stamler Police Academy's in service program, furnishing instruction in crime scene processing, basic fingerprint processing and both basic and advanced photography.

The On Call Mobil Crime Unit is assigned sophisticated equipment for use by on call forensic experts employed by the Prosecutor's Office. These on call personnel play an important role in the Unit's ability to deal with unplanned assignments such as homicides, autopsies and carjackings.

Appellate Section

The Appellate Section represents the State of New Jersey in direct appeals before the Appellate Division of Superior Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court. The Section also conducts legal research for the office, handles most motions filed before and after trial and represents the State in appeals from convictions in the municipal courts of Union County.

The Section is a primary training ground for attorneys and law students, many of whom will become assistant prosecutors assigned to the trial teams or the investigative units. In the Appellate Section, these employees are introduced to the relevant legal principles and the functioning of the office and the courts so that they will approach subsequent active trial and investigative assignments more confidently and effectively.

In terms of volume, the major category of work is the briefing of motions to suppress evidence in the trial courts and the representation of the State of New Jersey in plenary appeals in the Appellate Division.

Arson Unit

In April 1998, Prosecutor Thomas V. Manahan reinstated the Arson Unit within the Union County Prosecutor's Office. It is currently staffed by two full time and one part time detective and operates within the Special Prosecutions Unit. The Unit works in conjunction with the Union County Arson Task Force, which is comprised of a select group of Union County firemen and police officers who are specially trained and charged with the responsibility to determine the cause and origin of suspicious fires. Once the Task Force has declared a fire an arson, the case will be turned over to the appropriate law enforcement agency. It is the responsibility of the Arson Unit to assist local law enforcement agencies in regard to follow up investigations. Manpower limitations require a prioritization of cases. That determination is made on a case by case basis by Lt. Patricia Leonard, Commander of the Special Prosecutions Unit.

Asset Forfeiture Unit

The Asset Forfeiture Unit enforces the forfeiture laws in the State of New Jersey which allow for law enforcement to maintain custody of certain property which has been seized from a criminal defendant. Examples of such items include contraband such as controlled dangerous substances, firearms which have been unlawfully acquired, possessed or used, and an illegally possessed gambling device. In addition, the State can bring forfeiture proceedings against properties which are the proceeds of unlawful activity or which was used or intended to be used in furtherance of unlawful activity or which has become an integral part of unlawful activity. The purpose of these laws is to deprive defendants of the fruits of their unlawful activities and to act as a deterrent in preventing similar activity in the future.

Municipal law enforcement agencies work jointly with members of the Unit with regard to the investigation of assets obtained as a result of criminal activity and coordinate seizures of such property with the Prosecutor's Office. The Unit also coordinates its activities and interacts with other State and Federal law enforcement agencies.

Auto Theft Task Force (A.T.T.F.)

The Essex/Union Auto Theft Task Force, financed by the Union County Prosecutor's Office, has been in existence since 1991. It has been recognized nationally for its innovative and productive tactics which have significantly reduced the rate of motor vehicle thefts in both Essex and Union Counties.

A.T.T.F. members participate in an outreach program which focuses upon juveniles in inner city schools and upon adult citizen groups. Officers speak before citizen groups at churches and housing projects regarding the methods which citizens can employ to protect themselves against the violence which has become associated with motor vehicle thefts.

The Task Force continues its police officer work/training program which allows for municipal police chiefs to assign officers to work and train for thirty to sixty days and to rotate new officers into the A.T.T.F. after each training period. The officers are trained in pursuit procedures, vehicle blocking tactics and report writing. This training provides local police officers with the opportunity to work in inner city areas where cars stolen from their communities are recovered and to interact with the subject who have committed those thefts.

Bias and Hate Crimes Unit

The role of law enforcement in combating hate crimes in our society is both complex and sensitive. A Prosecutor, as the chief law enforcement officer in his or her county, must carefully balance the significant and competing interests of free expression under the First Amendment and those of insuring that individuals may live free of harassment and threats based upon ethnicity, religion, race, gender, handicap or sexual orientation.

The Union County Prosecutor's Office Bias and Hate Crimes Unit investigates instances of alleged bias and hate crimes occurring within Union County. The Unit works closely with the numerous law enforcement agencies throughout Union County to provide investigative and legal assistance, education and victims' services in an effort to both prevent and effectively prosecute instances of expressive intolerance which transgress the boundaries of the criminal law.

Under our laws, a bias incident is defined as:

Any suspected or confirmed offense or unlawful act which occurs to a person, private property, or public property on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, handicap, sexual orientation or ethnicity.

In order to invoke criminal liability we must be prepared to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the motive for the commission of the offense or unlawful act pertains to race, color, religion, gender, handicap, sexual orientation or ethnicity. Where no specific offense can be identified with regard to the conduct under review, the matter is classified as a "bias incident." The most frequent example of bias incidents not involving criminal behavior are name calling and insulting remarks which do not involve a physical assault or which are not likely to cause annoyance or alarm.

State guidelines mandate that our office be notified immediately of the occurrence of any crime of violence where the motivation for that offense is grounded in the victim's ethnicity, religion, race, gender, handicap or sexual orientation. We make our criminal investigative resources, to include personnel and forensic expertise, available on a twenty four hour basis to the local agency in each instance. Where we perceive the need for our presence either at the scene of the incident or in order to give counsel to victims or to an affected group, we do not hesitate to marshal our resources to that end.

The Unit also tracks all bias incidents and offenses in order to assist our Bias and Hate Crimes Unit and local law enforcement agencies in their respective investigative efforts. Through the use of our computer database, we have been able to detect and record similarities in unsolved cases with regard to offender description and modus operandi. These procedures have resulted in the actual identification of several offenders in cases which otherwise would have been unsolved.

The Prosecutor's Office supplies speakers and training personnel for Community Outreach events such as this and to conduct law enforcement in-service and recruit training in Bias and Cultural Awareness disciplines.

Child Abuse Squad

The Child Abuse Squad, within the Major Crimes Unit, is comprised of fourteen individuals who dedicate their full time efforts to investigating and prosecuting cases arising from incidents of sexual and physical abuse of children. The Squad is responsible for cases in which these offenses are alleged to have been committed by persons who have custodial care of child victims. Included are offenses committed by parents, relatives, teachers, baby sitters, caretakers and others who may have custody of children. All of the investigations are coordinated with municipal police agencies as well as with the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. The Squad maintains a twenty-four hour on call schedule responding to reports of sexual abuse, serious physical injuries or death. The investigations focus upon obtaining proper care and treatment for the victim, collecting and preserving evidence, locating and interviewing witnesses and identifying and prosecuting the alleged abuser.

By their very nature, child abuse investigations and prosecutions are extremely difficult. However, the staff of the Child Abuse Squad has developed a reputation of expertise in this field and, as a result, has been called upon to train personnel in other law enforcement agencies. The Squad has sponsored several training seminars for law enforcement officers and social workers. In addition, training sessions were initiated for day care providers to enable them to recognize signs of abuse and to learn how to react without further traumatizing the child. These programs have been widely acclaimed as an unprecedented and highly productive course of instruction.

In addition to developing a county wide child abuse protocol, the Squad has continued its multi disciplinary team approach to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. The team is comprised of legal, investigative, social service, medical and mental health professionals working hand in hand to provide the victims and their families the best possible services in a more compassionate, timely and less frightening manner.

We remain committed to our training of municipal police officers and Division of Youth and Family Service workers so that they may acquire the skills to investigate these complex matters. In every instance, investigators and prosecutors must be able to deal with child victims with tenderness and understanding so that the child can reveal what happened. Our training curriculum is designed to accomplish that goal.

Citizens are encouraged to report suspected acts of child abuse to the Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-792-8610.