APRI Highlights - Summer 2001

APRI Assistance Making a Difference

George E. Ross, Director, Grant Management

This inaugural issue of APRI Highlights features succinct overviews of the various APRI program areas, identifies key staff and provides a calendar of upcoming training opportunities. Readers who have already attended an APRI conference, course or workshop attest to the high quality of presentations and the invaluable learning experiences. Their course evaluations also confirm the value of APRI's program managers and senior attorneys as proven prosecutors who bring extensive courtroom experience to the classroom. Without a doubt, the APRI courses constitute a special resource for local prosecutors.

Less well known is APRI's technical assistance role. The same senior attorneys, supplemented by a cadre of staff attorneys, are available to help prosecutors with basic and complex issues and questions. Each APRI program area stays current with the most recent legislative and caselaw developments in its field. The programs prepare case analyses, information packets, brief banks and lists of expert witnesses. These materials can be readily accessed. Just write or call (703) 549-4253 and ask to be transferred to the specific program area, submit a request by fax to (703) 836-3195, send an e-mail or log onto the APRI website and submit an electronic request.

But whatever you do, don't try to go it alone when you are confronted with a thorny situation and a minimum of time. Contact the appropriate APRI program -- the staffs are ready and anxious to help you with information and insight.

And between those contacts, keep in touch with developments through the program newsletters. Contact the programs and put your name on the mailing lists for Between the Lines, Building Bridges, In Re, Silent Witness and Update. These concise publications provide handy and practical overviews and tips for prosecutors.