Bureau Chief:
Assistant District Attorney
Laura M. Henigman
The Intake Bureau is responsible for the early assessment and enhancement of more than 70,000 arrest cases in Queens County each year. Within hours of an arrest, Intake Assistant District Attorneys and paralegals interview crime victims, witnesses and police officers to determine the appropriate charges and gather additional evidence necessary for the successful prosecution of the case. The Assistant District Attorneys and paralegals, under the supervision of some of the office’s most experienced prosecutors, then prepare the actual accusatory instrument filed with the court and forward the case for arraignment.
District Attorney Brown has made technological advancement in Intake a priority. In July, 2000, the Office instituted an Arrest to Arraignment Computer System which allows the bureau to take a proactive role in investigating crimes immediately following an arrest. The bureau’s new Complaint Typing System, updated in April 2006, allows the office to gather and preserve for future use more information than ever about the cases the office prosecutes and the defendants who committed those crimes. The Complaint Typing System electronically links the arresting officer and the assigned Assistant District Attorney or paralegal, jointly working on the accusatory instrument and crime report to ensure its accuracy and thoroughness before it is sent to court.
As a result of District Attorney Brown’s initiatives and leadership, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office has become the most efficient office in the city both in the time taken to file an appropriate accusatory instrument and in arraigning defendants in a fair and timely manner. The office’s average complaint sworn time in 2006 was 8 hours and 47 minutes, first in the city and more than two hours faster than the citywide average, and the average arrest was arraigned in just under 20 hours, also first in the city and more than four hours faster than the citywide average.
District Attorney Brown has also instituted a vertical prosecution system, ensuring that the Assistant District Attorney to whom a case is assigned in Intake continues to prosecute that case in Criminal Court. This minimizes inconvenience to the victims and witnesses who have already spoken to the Assistant District Attorney at the outset of the case.
*All numbers were supplied by NYPD - Criminal Justice Bureau
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