TRENTON – Seven former New Jersey Attorneys General have delivered a report to Attorney General Peter C. Harvey (263k pdf - free PDF plugin) that calls for unifying the collection and strategic analysis of all terrorism information and other law enforcement intelligence in New Jersey under the Attorney General to ensure uniformity in the collection and dissemination of critical data to law enforcement officers throughout the State. The former Attorneys General agree that unification of data collection will make law enforcement more effective and enhance the security of New Jersey’s residents.

The recommendation to centralize intelligence operations under the direct oversight of the Attorney General, the State’s chief law enforcement officer, is the leading recommendation in the Second Interim Report of the Attorney General Advisory Committee submitted by a bipartisan group of former Attorneys General, namely, John Degnan, Robert DelTufo, W. Cary Edwards, John J. Farmer Jr., William F. Hyland, Peter N. Perretti Jr. and David Samson. The report also calls for reinstatement of the practice of placing responsibility for all criminal appeals under the Attorney General in the Division of Criminal Justice, and calls for centralizing and modernizing training for all law enforcement agencies in New Jersey.

“The best of modern policing is intelligence based, which means it is more focused and proactive because it is informed by a comprehensive analysis of law enforcement intelligence on all types of criminal activity and trends,” said former Attorney General Edwards. “The only logical place for that analysis to occur, as stated in the report, is under the direct control of the Attorney General, the State’s chief law enforcement officer.”

“Consolidating intelligence collection and analysis under the State’s chief law enforcement officer will assist all law enforcement agencies in New Jersey – local, county and state,” said former Attorney General DelTufo. “The Attorney General can assure, through this centralized intelligence management system, that law enforcement agencies get maximum results from their collective efforts, whether they are investigating corruption, targeting gangs such as the Latin Kings and Crips, or tracking individuals with suspected links to Al Qaeda.”

“The Attorney General is uniquely positioned to provide the leadership needed to make the best use of information gathered by law enforcement agencies throughout New Jersey,” said former Attorney General Perretti. “Only the law enforcement establishment, of which the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer, is charged with the responsibility of securing legal wiretaps, legal warrants and the like. Our report recognizes the need to link crucial intelligence functions with the Attorney General’s broad law enforcement powers and responsibilities. Any thought of decentralizing those essential responsibilities simply will not work. ”

In the report, the former Attorneys General explain that consolidation of all existing intelligence functions directly under the Attorney General will “maximize the Attorney General’s ability to gain a more comprehensive perspective on the pressing law enforcement issues such as terrorism, organized crime and corruption.” The recommendation of the former Attorneys General is consistent with what is already taking place under Attorney General Harvey. New Jersey has implemented a Statewide Information Management System (SIMS) to enable police to more effectively report leads on potential terrorist activities and to permit comprehensive analysis of all types of police intelligence from throughout New Jersey.

“I want to thank all of the members of the Advisory Committee for their thoughtful recommendations and their dedication to protecting New Jerseyans through effective law enforcement,” said Attorney General Harvey. “Together they bring to the task more than 18 years of experience as Attorney General. I share their strong belief that a unified, coordinated approach to intelligence analysis is essential, because information about one type of criminal activity – be it organized crime, public corruption, gangs, drug trafficking or street crime – may contain threads of information that lead to other types of activity, including terrorism.”

The recommendation of the former Attorneys General also is consistent with the national strategy recommended by the 9/11 Commission Report, which called for unifying the U.S. intelligence community under a new National Intelligence Director. Both reports recognize that if intelligence is gathered in a fragmented fashion, then larger patterns will be missed that could lead investigators in new directions or lead policymakers, such as the Attorney General, to develop more proactive programs and policies.

“The recommendations by the former New Jersey Attorneys General about reforming and improving the State’s intelligence process and combining all such activities – including information collection and analysis – is a very well conceived and highly desirable approach,” said Professor Charles Rogovin of Temple Law School, a consultant to the Attorney General Advisory Committee. “It deals head-on with the kinds of problems which have adversely affected national law enforcement and intelligence agencies and limited the effectiveness of New Jersey’s agencies in enhancing the security and safety of its citizens. When fully implemented, the proposed Information and Intelligence Group will be a paradigm to contend with terrorism threats, organized crime, drugs, gangs and corruption.”

Professor Rogovin, a renowned expert in criminal law, has held leadership positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Professor Rogovin also served previously as Special Counsel to the Select Committee on Assassinations for the U.S. House of Representatives and was a member of the President’s Commission on Organized Crime.

In its second recommendation, the Committee calls for reinstatement of the practice of centralizing governmental response to criminal appeals in the Division of Criminal Justice. In the 1970s, the Appellate Section of the Division had responsibility for handling such appeals in 20 of the State’s 21 counties. But due, in part, to budgetary considerations, the County Prosecutor’s Offices now handle about half of the criminal appeals. The report indicates that centralization of criminal appeals would enable the Attorney General to ensure that appeals involving issues important to law enforcement would be identified and addressed in a consistent fashion. It also would foster specialization for appellate lawyers and thereby improve the quality of the work product, the report states.

“Consolidation of criminal appeals under the leadership of the Attorney General will provide, once again, for uniformity in the handling of appellate issues of critical importance to law enforcement agencies throughout New Jersey,” said former Attorney General DelTufo.

Finally, the report recommends that training for all state law enforcement agencies – including Corrections, Juvenile Justice, Criminal Justice and State Police – be consolidated in a single academy that will save costs and improve quality. The report states that integration of the Police Training Commission into this academy will allow for the development of new, uniform curricula for academies around the State that train local police. The report calls for extensive use of adult education techniques, epitomized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and modern technologies to permit distance learning and innovative instruction.

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