APRI Highlights - Summer 2004

A Message from the Past President
APRI: Then and Now

Newman Flanagan, Past President APRI

On June 1, I welcomed APRI’s new president, Tom Charron. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the origins of this unique organization and how it has evolved over the years.

At one time, the National District Attorneys Association employed a staff of more than 40 people. But in 1980, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration was dissolved, and the NDAA staff plummeted to only three. In efforts to rebuild the association, the NDAA leadership anticipated seeking funds from various federal, state and private sources. Vowing never again to expose the association to such financial disaster, the leadership decided to create a separate corporation to receive these funds. In doing so, NDAA would limit its risk and liability while protecting its benefactors from any potential negative perceptions of their relationships with elected officials.

In November 1982, while serving as president of NDAA, I had the privilege of joining my colleagues, Jack Yelverton (then-NDAA executive director), Robert Johnson, Sr. (then-county attorney, Anoka County, MN), and Edwin Miller (then-district attorney, San Diego County, California), in signing the initial corporation papers for the American Prosecutors Research Institute. Thanks to several industrious NDAA Board members, APRI was launched with $900,000 raised from the private sector. We hired a chief administrator and a fundraiser and rented a small part of NDAA office space in Alexandria. With help from then-Counsel to the President Edwin Meese III, APRI received its first grant in 1984—$1.5 million to establish the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.

Today, APRI is a fiscally responsible, multimillion dollar corporation employing nearly 70 individuals. It is recognized by prosecutors and allied professionals as the nation’s leading source of research, specialized training and technical assistance on cutting edge issues in the field of prosecution. APRI staff consults daily with officials from federal, state and local government and private sector corporations. Working prosecutors rely on APRI for advice on strategy and tactics—even during trial.

In my opinion, APRI services the people’s attorneys across America in extraordinary ways.

I am confident that Mr. Charron will continue and expand on this proud journey. Having served NDAA as director of education at the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center for the past five years and as NDAA president in 1991-1992, and as the elected district attorney of Cobb County, Georgia, for more than 20 years, Mr. Charron brings a tremendous reservoir of knowledge and experience. I look forward to many more successes as APRI leads the way through the challenges of the 21st century.