(TRENTON ) - Governor James E. McGreevey and Attorney General David Samson today announced the establishment of a new Office of Government Integrity to strengthen the efforts of the Department of Law and Public Safety to investigate and prosecute public corruption, official misconduct and misuse of public funds.

Attorney General Samson signed the Administrative Directive creating the new office in order to focus the State's resources more effectively on rooting out governmental misconduct. The Attorney General has appointed Edward M. Neafsey, the current State Inspector General, as director of the Office of Government Integrity.

"We made a commitment to the give the citizens of New Jersey an ethical, accountable state government, and the creation of this office is an essential part of meeting that commitment," McGreevey said.

"The citizens of New Jersey are entitled to a government that operates in accordance with the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, impartiality and accountability," said Samson. "My goal in establishing the Office of Government Integrity is to ensure that those high standards are met. We will be vigilant and aggressive in our fight against misconduct at all levels of government."

The Office of Government Integrity is loosely modeled on the Office of Professional Responsibility in the U.S. Department of Justice. The office will consist of three primary units, including a newly established Professional Responsibility Unit, a new Public Corruption Unit and the existing Unit of Fiscal Integrity in School Construction, previously established to monitor the financing and construction of schools under the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. That unit formerly was under the Office of the Inspector General, which also handled such other matters as the Attorney General assigned to it. Samson's directive assigns all the duties of the Office of the Inspector General to the Office of Government Integrity.

The new Professional Responsibility Unit will create a system for screening and monitoring misconduct complaints brought against law enforcement or professional personnel in the Department of Law and Public Safety, including all deputy attorneys general, state investigators and members of the State Police. The unit also will monitor misconduct complaints brought against law enforcement personnel in the 21 county prosecutors' offices.

The Professional Responsibility Unit will establish standards and protocols for referring complaints to an appropriate internal affairs unit and, where appropriate, will directly handle the investigation and prosecution of such complaints. The unit also will be authorized to audit the internal affairs operations of the Department and the county prosecutors' offices and periodically audit certain financial accounts maintained by those agencies.
The Public Corruption Unit is given explicit authority under the directive to investigate criminal matters assigned to it by the Attorney General which implicate the integrity, fairness or efficacy of governmental functions, including misconduct allegations brought against law enforcement officers, public employees, and elected and appointed local and state public officials. The unit will supplement, not supplant, those functions performed by the Division of Criminal Justice.

Governor James E. McGreevey said the new Office of Government Integrity will help him meet the promise he made to the people of New Jersey to work diligently to restore their confidence in government by making sure government operates with integrity and efficiency.

"By consolidating these administrative, investigative and prosecutorial functions within a single office, the Attorney General is creating a more cohesive approach to address government corruption and waste," McGreevey said. "We're going to focus the considerable resources of the Department of Law and Public Safety on ensuring state and local government officials operate with integrity and accountability."

Neafsey, as director of the Office of Government Integrity, will report directly to the Attorney General. Samson also will assign to the office such employees of the Department of Law and Public Safety as he believes necessary to handle the responsibilities of the three units.

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