The Homicide Squad is the oldest specialized unit in the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The Squad was created to ensure that there exists close cooperation between the local police departments and the Prosecutor's Office whenever a homicide occurs within Essex County. The Homicide Squad's role is to ensure that evidence for homicide cases is developed in a legal and professional manner. The goal is to develop the best case possible for trial.

The Homicide Squad is also responsible for matters that have been designated as Special Investigations. There are times when a death occurs under circumstances that do not immediately indicate that a homicide was committed, but nonetheless require an investigation to determine if someone was legally responsible for the death. Special Investigations may also include matters involving: ATTEMPTED MURDER; WITNESS TAMPERING; OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT; ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITY; STREET GANG ACTIVITY; and MISSING PERSONS.

Since the Homicide Squad is responsible for investigating homicides in Essex County in conjunction with the local police departments, an established protocol sets forth the procedures for local police agencies to notify the Prosecutor's Office that a homicide has occurred. The Homicide Squad has an Investigator, a Superior Officer, and an Assistant Prosecutor on 24 hour call everyday of the week.

• Once notified that a homicide has occurred, the Investigator responds to the scene and works with the local police. The Investigator participates in every aspect of the investigation, including examination of the scene, preservation of evidence, questioning of witnesses and suspects, and meeting with the Medical Examiner.

• The on-call Supervisor provides any necessary support, supervision or direction as may be required in the investigation.

• The on-call Assistant Prosecutor is responsible for providing such legal advice and assistance that may be necessary to further the investigation. This includes assisting the Investigators in obtaining search warrants, detention orders and arrest warrants. Once an arrest occurs, the Assistant Prosecutor is responsible with the Investigator for preparing the matter for Grand Jury presentation.

• The Secretarial / Clerical / Legal Intern staff assists the legal and investigative staff in every aspect of the investigations and trials.

In addition to criminal homicides, the Homicide Squad is primarily responsible for investigating all police shootings that occur within Essex County. Generally, if the shooting is fatal, an Assistant Prosecutor in the Homicide Squad will ultimately present the matter to the Grand Jury consistent with the directives of the Division of Criminal Justice. Non-fatal police shootings are ultimately referred to the Professional Standards Bureau. The Homicide Squad also responds to all incidents when a police officer is shot. The Squad also conducts Special and/or Confidential Investigations as may be assigned. Finally, the Homicide Squad acts as a clearinghouse for the Kroll review cases that are homicide related, as well as Post Conviction Relief cases regarding homicide convictions.

In 2006, the Homicide Unit opened 326 investigations. A total of 128 defendants were charged by complaint, and a total of 147 defendants were presented to the grand jury, resulting in 115 defendants indicted.

The Homicide Unit works especially closely with ECPO's Crime Scene Unit, which was expanded and enhanced in 2006, including the opening of a 15,000 square foot state-of-the-art headquarters and lab facility.   The new facility includes a vehicle processing room equipped with a hydraulic lift; a forensic processing room designed to better enable a detective to locate and identify fingerprints on various types of evidence; a drying chamber room designed for the processing and packaging of blood soaked clothing; a digital photography room; and a large evidence storage room capable of handling more than 50 times the amount of evidence at the previous facility.

The Crime Scene facility also has a high bandwidth data communication system allowing for instant exchange of large digital files (audio, photo images, videos, etc.) with law enforcement agencies world-wide. The computer system also features a 3-D animated Crime Scene Sketch and Reconstruction software to allow the Crime Scene Detectives the ability to visually reconstruct a crime scene. The Crime Scene Unit uses three fully stocked field vehicles capable of the immediate and thorough processing of evidence at any crime scene. These vehicles are equipped with portable lighting systems, alternate light sources which enable the detective to view bodily fluids, hairs, fibers and latent fingerprints- all invisible to the human eye under natural light.

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