All criminal complaints in Essex County involving indictable crime (as opposed to disorderly persons offenses) are "screened" by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, so as to identify cases that properly state an indictable crime subject to prosecution in Superior Court. The nature of the offense, surrounding circumstances, quality of the evidence and the character of the defendant are considered in making the screening decision. By performing this type of early case screening, cases can be appropriately diverted before they are physically referred to the Prosecutor’s Office, thereby avoiding the waste of time, energy and precious resources.

It is the primary function of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office's Initial Screening Unit to review criminal complaints with an emphasis on diverting those complaints not warranting prosecution on the Superior Court level to the Municipal Court. The first level of screening done by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office occurs at the point of origin, which for the majority of cases is the municipality. The Initial Screening Unit reviews all criminal complaints involving indictable offenses coming out of Essex County's Municipal Courts.

Since 2001, the entire municipal screening process has been under the auspices of the Initial Screening Unit. Prior to that, municipal case screening was performed by two separate units. The Initial Screening Unit is currently staffed by an Assistant Prosecutor Director, two (2) Assistant Prosecutors, one (1) County Investigator, one (1) Prosecutor's Agent, and two (2) clerical personnel.

The Initial Screening Unit is headquartered in Newark adjacent to the City of Newark Municipal Court. Approximately sixty percent of the Unit's workload originates in that Court. Case screening is facilitated through a close relationship with Newark Police personnel and the Newark Municipal Court staff. It is essential to the effective and efficient pursuit of justice that cases be ready for forwarding beyond the municipal screening level with complete supporting documentation at the earliest date possible. With the implementation of the CJP Court in 1987, the municipal courts and police have been under considerable pressure to transport prisoners and paperwork to the Superior Court and the County Jail as soon as possible. The speed at which this transfer takes place has made it virtually certain that the only police reports available at the time of transfer are the original report and the arrest reports. This unit ensures that at least those reports are forwarded. It also attempts to anticipate and provide additional reports that will be needed prior to Grand Jury presentation. In light of the sheer volume of cases emanating from Newark, the deployment of personnel on site is imperative.

The Initial Screening Unit also pre-screens cases through reviews with law enforcement officers and potential civilian complainants prior to the filing of criminal complaints. Based on the outcome of this review, Assistant Prosecutors determine whether or not a complaint will be handled as an indictable offense or a disorderly persons offense, and whether a warrant or summons should be issued.

Many complaints are also generated from the diverse law enforcement agencies operating throughout Essex County. These agencies include the United States Postal Inspector; New Jersey State Bureau of Parole; New Jersey Department of Corrections; The Port Authority of NY/NJ; NJ Transit Police; The Waterfront Commission; Human Services; and the police departments of Rutgers; N.J.I.T. and U.M.D.N.J. Each of these agencies files their criminal complaints in the Newark Municipal Court. Furthermore, telephonic reviews are conducted with police or municipal personnel of Caldwell, North Caldwell, West Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Maplewood, Millburn, Nutley, Orange, Roseland, South Orange, Verona and Livingston. During this telephonic review, it is the responsibility of the municipal official to inform the Assistant Prosecutor of the charges pending, to summarize the available evidence supporting those charges, and to summarize the defendant’s criminal history including arrests, convictions and recent arrests without disposition. This procedure allows the Assistant Prosecutor to make an informed decision in the charging process. A letter evidencing the Assistant Prosecutor’s screening decision is then faxed to these municipalities.

The remaining municipalities (East Orange, Irvington, Belleville, Bloomfield, Montclair and West Orange) have their criminal complaints reviewed by investigative staff making a daily appearance. After a review of available police reports, a staff member consults by phone with an Assistant Prosecutor in Newark. Based upon the information received authorization letters are prepared by the investigative staff.

It should be noted that the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office does not close up shop on Saturdays and holidays. Personnel staff this operation on a rotating/voluntary basis. Every Saturday, the Initial Screening office is staffed by a supervising Assistant Prosecutor, one supporting Assistant Prosecutor and one investigator to review criminal complaints originating in Newark and Irvington. Moreover, another Assistant Prosecutor is assigned on certain designated holidays to respond directly to the East Orange Police Department. In recent years, East Orange municipal court began assigning personnel on the weekends, and this Office has responded by using the weekend staff to include East Orange on a regular basis. The purpose of weekend and holiday screening is to divert, where appropriate, all weekend and holiday arrests that can be handled at the municipal level. Experience has established the necessity of being in operation on Saturday’s and holidays. The burdens of an overcrowded jail and arraignment docket on Monday mornings has been ameliorated by this efficient program.

In 1999, the Initial Screening Unit (formerly called Municipal Screening) was assigned the additional task of reviewing matters referred by the Department of Corrections and Bureau of Parole. Prior to filing a complaint, these agencies forward a package of reports requesting a decision on how it should proceed with regard to escapes from prison, violations of parole (“parole absconder” cases), and other criminal violations that occur while an inmate is incarcerated in any State Prison or State operated “half-way house” within the jurisdiction of this Office. Letters are forwarded authorizing the filing of indictable criminal complaints where appropriate.

Assistant Prosecutors prepare forms documenting complaint screening decisions in Newark and other municipalities (via telephonic review), and submit these forms to clerical personnel responsible for compiling weekly and monthly statistics. Similarly, investigative personnel who review municipal cases through daily appearance add their workload information for inclusion. Monthly statistics are forwarded to the Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor and Chief Assistant Prosecutor supervising this unit.

Since 2001, the Initial Screening Unit refers cases to the Central Judicial Processing Unit only where all co-defendant materials are reviewed together. Compliance with this policy has been quite successful and eliminates the unacceptable delays previously experienced when requesting co-defendant information from the Newark Municipal Court.

The Initial Screening Unit requests pertinent Newark Police reports as soon as screening begins. Investigative personnel fax request forms prepared by the evaluating Assistant Prosecutor to the Newark Police Department, regardless of whether the defendant is in custody or not. This task used to be handled by investigative personnel in the pre-indictment units. The policy of requesting and procuring all relevant paperwork at the earliest possible date helps the Unit to reach the goal of ensuring the effective and efficient prosecution of cases.

Despite the challenges presented by a high volume of cases combined with increasing responsibilities and personnel shortages, the Initial Screening Unit continues to successfully pursue the criminal justice goals shared by every component of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The graph below reflects the number of cases reviewed by the Initial Screening Unit from 1995 to 2002, together with the number of complaints that were diverted to municipal courts or otherwise screened out. In 2005, the Initial Screening Unit handled a total of 21,671 custody and non-custody cases.