Internal Organizational Issues

Placement of an
Environmental Unit within the Office
The decision whether to establish aseparate environmental
crimes unit or make it part of a larger component of a
prosecutor's office will generally be made by the district
attorney based on anticipaled caseload, availableresources,
and theexisting organization oftheprosecutor's office. The
programs visited for the preparation ofthis report represent
tl variety of organizational placements. In Cook County,
Illinois, the environmental unit of the State's attorney's
office is part of the Public Interest Bureau. The Public
InterestBureau also handles paternity, child support, public
utilities, mental health, and nursing home regulatory cases.
Cook County's environmental unit is authorized to prosecute both environmental
and occupational health cases.
The Monmouth County, New Jersey, environmental prosecution unit is part of the
major crimes section of the
Monmouth County prosecutor's office. In Monmouth
County, environmental crime is treated with the same
commitment accorded to homicide, rObbery, burglary, and
arson. The decision to include environmental crime in
major crime is evidence of Monmouth County prosecutor
Kaye's strong commitment to environmental prosecution
and an acknowledgement of the severity of the problem.
The two California county district attorney's offices examined for thisstudy
revealdistinct approaches to the prosecution of environmental crime. In Alameda
County, the
environmental prosecution unit is part ofthe Consumerand
EnvironmentalProtectionDivision ofthe Alameda County
district atlorney's office. In Los Angeles, environmental
crime was split offfrom consumer protection and grouped
with occupationalsafety and health cases in aseparate unit
of the Special Operations Bureau. Other divisions of the
Special Operations Bureau of the Los Angeles County
district attorney's office deal with juvenile crime, special
crimes (trimes against peace officers, nursing home ca~es,
and child abduction cases), hard-core gang cases, major
narcotics cases, major frauds, and consumer protection.
Finally, the environmental unit of the Jefferson and Gilpin
Counties' district attorney's office is part of a specialized
team assigned to handle complex cases.l
Specialization within the Unit/Office
Specialization within environmental crimes units typically
occurs when caseloads are quite large. With an active
caseload of about 200 cases, Alameda County's environmental prosecution unit
has found that specialization best
meets its needs. One deputy D.A. specializes in underground storage tank cases,
another focuses on "release
response" cases, and a third specializes in hazardous waste
disposalcases. InLos Angeles, where the unit hasabout 150
ongoing formal investigations and about 600 open matters
at any given time, no f01mal specialization has been established. However, some
informal specialization has developed. For example, one attorney is particularly
expert on
asbestos cases, another has amassed considerable experience in petroleum
industry cases, and a third is well versed
in the search·and-seizure issues that are often important in
environmental prosecutions.
D.A. Mielke's office in Colorado has aspecialized team of
two attorneys within the Complex Prosecutions Unit who
arc reserved to handle complex cases. The team "floats"
amongdifferent types ofcasesaccoi'ding to the unit's needs,
with one of the two solely responsible for organized crime
prosecution.
In Cook County, environmental matters are assigned by the
level of experience of the prosecutor rather than by specialty. Some
environmental cases may require the filing of
civil forfeiture claims, and many cases require familiarity
with avariety ofchemicalsubstances. The technicalissues,
however, are not unduly burdensome, and the required
expertise can generally be acquired on thi! ,lob. Attorneys
with the Cook County office note that many environmental
cases are no more challenging technically than other types
ofcriminalprosecutions. Still, prosecutors note, such cases
Internal Organlzallonallssues 31
are lypically more time consumAng to prepare for trial.
Attorneys with the M:mmouth County unit lio notspecialize
in any particular way. The office has emphasized that the
unit's investigative staffbe well trained and have familiarity with chemicals and
hazardous substances.
Vertical Prosecution
Vertical prosecution, an approach to case management in
which thesame assistant prosecutor handles acasefrom the
time it comes into the office through final adjudication,
seems to be the rule in environmental cases. These are
generally complexcases,manyinvolvingconeurrent criminal and civil investigations,
which require intense and
ongoingsupervision.The attorneys in the Cook County unit
make it It point to be involved from very carlyon in the
investigation and to remain on the case all the way through
to final adjudication. Similarly, in Monmouth County,
prosecutorsareinvolved ftom theoutset oran investigation.
32 Local Prosecution of Environmental crime
•
Unit attorneys review and provide legal advice on the
drafting of search warrants and commonly conduct site
visitsjointlywithcriminalinvestigators.In AlamedaCounty,
one environmental prosecutor is on call around the clock.
The office's policy on environmental case management is
the vertical prosecution ofcases. This is the policy in Los
Angeles as well. Early, close, and ongoing cooperation
between prosecutors and investigators in environmental
prosecutions, as well as continuity of attorney assignment,
is extremely important in complex environmental criminal
cases.
Endnote
1. NU's study of the local prosecution of corporate crime
recommends considering the cstablishment of special
prosecution units to handle such cases. See Benson,
Cullen, and Maakestad, LocalProsecutors and Corporate Crime.