The New Jersey State Municipal Prosecutors' Association ("NJSMPA") came into being in October 2004. The original purposes of the NJSMPA included: addressing and promoting issues facing all municipal court Prosecutors in the State of New Jersey; to take an active role in lobbying for legislation unique to the position of municipal prosecutor; creating continuing legal education courses specific to municipal prosecutors and municipal court issues; promoting camaraderie of like minded individuals and; identifying all municipal prosecutors in the State of New Jersey by completing a census of all municipal courts.
To date, the NJSMPA membership roles include well over one hundred (100) municipal court Prosecutors and our numbers are growing consistently. We now have members located in every county in the State of New Jersey and the NJSMPA has the lofty goal of attempting to get 100 % participation of all municipal court Prosecutors in the State of New Jersey. I am hopeful that such a goal will be met by the end of 2007.
A major success of the NJSMPA has been the partnering with the Mercer County Bar Association ("MCBA") for the creation and offering of continuing legal education courses. In 2005, the NJSMPA and MCBA offered two (2) such seminars that were well received and well attended. So far in 2006, the NJSMPA and the MCBA teamed up again to offer a two (2) day "Skills and Methods Program" for new municipal court prosecutors which was also well received and well attended. More programs are being created and promoted for the coming months and we, the NJSMPA and the MCBA, hope to build on our recent successes in this untapped area of legal education.
For 2006, the NJSMPA has a goal of seeking a change in the period of the term of office for municipal prosecutors. As a result of the decision in the case of State v. Clark, which has limited municipal prosecutors' practices in their "Home" counties, the very nature of the office of municipal prosecutor has changed. The NJSMPA is hopeful that legislation can be introduced, and ultimately passed and signed into law that will extend municipal prosecutors' term of office to three (3) years. Additional legislative issues that will be addressed in the future include discovery fees, access to State motor vehicle records and tenure of office.
The NJSMPA conducts the majority of its business electronically via the World Wide Web and e-mail. There are many benefits to doing business in this fashion not the least of which is the savings of substantial sums of money on mailings, postage, telephone and other traditional methods of communication. An added benefit to communicating via e-mail has been the creation of a "web ring" for seeking information from other municipal court prosecutors. In the past year when a member has had a unique issue presented to them, they have simply asked for advice from fellow members of the NJSMPA. Usually, many responses to the question were then forwarded to all members and, as in most cases, a fellow member previously faced the same or similar problem and was then able to help the requesting municipal prosecutor to cut through rather lengthy legal research, saving both time and expense.
The friendships and acquaintances that I have personally made as a result of this organization will, hopefully, last me a lifetime. I have come to depend on my fellow members of the NJSMPA for not only help in this unique area of the law but for their friendship, camaraderie, professionalism and support as well.
I am truly humbled and blessed to be able to participate in this organization as the President and I am grateful and honored by the confidence bestowed upon me by my fellow members of the NJSMPA. To my fellow members I would like you to know that I aspire to earn the honor and trust you have given to me in the coming months.
Thank you,
Robert J. Pinizzotto, Esquire
President, NJSMPA
Stuart Rabner
Attorney General |
Gregory Paw
Director - Division of Criminal Justice |
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