Kevin P. Meenan
America's Prosecutors" Back to Work that Never Stopped
When the president told Americans to “get back to work,” I think the criminals of this country were the first to react. That is if they even stopped or slowed down after the attack of September 11. While the country has been grappling with the reality of the new war on terrorism, all of us in prosecution know that the violence, drugs and theft we deal with every day continues. Our reality before September 11 required us to handle our criminal and juvenile responsibilities with barely adequate resources that were stretched thin. Now, post-attack, each of us must continue battling crime but with law enforcement, crime labs and budgets that are straining to keep up with the demands of the war on terrorism.
People have always looked to us prosecutors to ensure that our communities were safe and were places of order. But in these times, more than ever, people need the assurance that their prosecutors are doing what needs to be done to keep them and their loved ones safe from harm. We have new issues of terrorism to handle, but our traditional responsibilities remain unchanged. And even though the response to terrorism is eating up valuable money and time, the people need to know that their prosecutors are taking care of business and that we never stopped.
While the media and the public have been understandably focused on the war against terrorism, you are beginning to see the steady reassertion of the issues of our day that NDAA was working on before September 11.
One of my priorities as president of NDAA was to raise our media presence. In these times when our citizens need assurance that their institutions of law and order are working well, that priority remains important. December is impaired driving awareness month and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has invited me on behalf of NDAA to participate in a series of public service announcements that will include prosecutors in the public campaign against drunk driving. At our fall board of directors meeting, we approved the first in a series of public service announcements designed to remind our public of the hard work and professional dedication they get every day from America’s line prosecutors. Our committees continue to work on effective responses to cybercrime, illegal drugs, bogus professional misconduct attacks on prosecutors, DNA and the myriad of issues facing our nation before the horror of September 11. Those issues will not go away and NDAA is as determined as ever to handle them, even in the midst of this current national crisis.
The attacks of the terrorists have given us new challenges as prosecutors. It has become painfully obvious with the anthrax threat, that most of our states had little or no legislation to deal with phony threats or with bio attacks themselves. I directed our new policy attorney—Teresa Miranda—to compile a summary of laws in each of the 50 states and to draft some model legislation for our state associations to use. (See Drafting Hoax Anthrax Legislation) This work dovetails with work already underway by the National Council of State Legislatures. APRI is developing a project looking to all the issues raised for us prosecutors by the new terrorist reality. Our NDAA Board of Directors had a spirited discussion on the role of NDAA after September 11 at our recent fall board meeting.
Each community is developing a response to the new threat to our security, and our members are involved in that effort. Congress passed legislation that gives us badly needed support in wiretap and surveillance work. How America’s local prosecutors will interact with our federal counterparts as the Department of Justice shifts its priorities remains to be seen. That dialogue began with a recent Executive Working Group meeting between a team from NDAA, the Department of Justice and the National Association of Attorneys General. Follow-up meetings are scheduled early next year.
NDAA looks forward to facing these new challenges with the same determined commitment we give to the other issues of our time. America’s prosecutors don’t need to “get back to work,” because we never stopped. But America’s prosecutors must be even more visible to our citizens to reassure them that the most basic of our governmental responsibilities—public safety and the rule of law—continues unaffected by the evil threatening our country.
