COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Does the Essex County Prosecutor's Office do more than investigate and prosecute criminals?
• My home was broken into and valuable items were stolen. The police caught the man who broke in and recovered my property. How do I get it back?
• I would like to have a speaker from your Office to address a group meeting in Essex County. Who should I contact?

Q. Does the Essex County Prosecutor's Office do more than investigate and prosecute criminals?
A. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office operates a Victim-Witness Office to assist victims of crime and persons who are required to testify as witnesses in criminal cases in Essex County. This program was created by State law, and benefits victims and witnesses whose lives are traumatized by the experience of crime, as well as the citizenry at large by fostering victim / witness cooperation in the prosecution of criminals. For more information, see the Victim-Witness Services section.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office also runs a Community Justice Program that reaches out to community groups and to the youth of Essex County, especially within the lower-income urban areas, as to foster understanding and cooperation with law enforcement. The Community Justice Program sponsors (with State grant assistance) a five-week Summer Youth Internship program for Essex County high school seniors interested in legal or law enforcement careers. Since 2001, the Office has been a member of the Greater Newark Safer Cities Initiative, a coalition that includes the Essex Superior Court Presiding Judge, Rutgers University, other academic experts, police, prosecutors, probation officials and community service providers working to identify individuals in Newark and Irvington at risk of repeated violent crime and divert them from such behaviors.

The Office also provides a Speakers Bureau to address audiences regarding public safety topics throughout the County. Also of interest, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office is involved in the State SANE / SART (Sex Assault Nurse Examiner / Sex Assault Response Team) program, which trains and coordinates nurses qualified to collect and maintain evidence in sex assault cases. And finally, the Office responds to the Press with appropriate details regarding its ongoing prosecutorial efforts, and is now reaching out to the public via the Internet.

Q. My home was broken into and valuable items were stolen. The police caught the man who broke in and recovered my property. How do I get it back?
A. Contact the Victim/Witness Advocacy Office of the Essex County Prosecutor at (973) 621-4707. In most cases, recovered valuables can be returned as soon as they are logged in and photographed by the police. However, in most instances items may need to be temporarily retained as evidence for prosecution.

Q. I would like to have a speaker from your Office to address a group meeting in Essex County. Who should I contact?
A. Contact the Essex County Prosecutor's Community Justice Program, at (973) 621-4539 or 621-4700.