The Prosecutor is the chief law enforcement officer in the County, and by statute, is responsible for the detection, arrest, indictment and conviction of offenders against the laws of the State of New Jersey. The Governor, with the consent of the State Senate, appoints the County Prosecutor in each of the twenty-one counties to a five-year term of office, which may be renewed at the Governor’s discretion. In fact, New Jersey is only one of two states in the nation whose prosecutors are appointed by the Governor and are not elected officials. Our current County Prosecutor, Robert L. Taylor was sworn into office on October 1, 2004.

            The Prosecutor is at the center of New Jersey’s criminal justice system and wields a great deal of discretionary power to resolve matters involving violations of criminal statutes in the County’s geographical boundaries. The Prosecutor may pursue criminal prosecution by seeking indictments, recommend not to prosecute after indictments are returned or recommend plea bargaining agreements to the Court. The quality and direction of law enforcement efforts in any county is directly related to the actions of the Prosecutor and staff. 

A County Prosecutor’s Office normally has three sections, legal, investigative, and support, with all working closely together to successfully prosecute offenders. Depending on the size of the office, specialized units are created such as narcotics, child abuse, Megan’s Law, economic crimes, intelligence, etc. The specialized units are particularly effective in complex economic crime or homicide investigations as well as sophisticated narcotics investigations.  

Currently in Cape May County, Prosecutor Taylor has a First Assistant Prosecutor, J. David Meyer, and Chief Assistant Prosecutor who supervise a staff of nine Assistant Prosecutors assigned to the legal section. The professional and experienced staff of Assistant Prosecutors is assigned to various duties and responsibilities including Grand Jury preparation, trials, juvenile court, domestic violence and drug court as well as legal liaison to the Narcotics Task Force, Megan’s Law Unit and Child Abuse Unit.

            The County Prosecutor’s Office investigative section is currently comprised of a Chief, James E. Rybicki, a Captain, three Lieutenants, and a Sergeant who supervise fifteen County Detectives and Investigators. The section is divided into two squads; major crimes, which handles all criminal investigations with the exception of narcotics, handled by a multi-jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force. The Narcotics Task Force is supervised and staffed with Prosecutor’s Office detectives, municipal police officers as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This highly trained group of detectives are assigned to a variety of primary assignments, such as homicide investigations, the tiering and tracking of Megan’s Law offenders, coordination of intelligence information with municipal police departments throughout the County including counter terrorism leads, homeland security, economic crime investigations encompassing cases such as sophisticated fraudulent schemes to the more common contractor fraud, internal affairs investigations involving complaints against municipal police officers, child abuse investigations requiring coordination with the Division of Youth and Family Services as well as all of the law enforcement agencies within the County. In addition to their primary assignments, detectives are assigned secondary duties such as the Forensic Crime Scene Unit, Fatal Crash Investigation Unit, and surveillances to name only a few. Detectives assigned to the Narcotics Task Force coordinate the investigation of organized drug trafficking in Cape May County utilizing sophisticated techniques such as electronic surveillance and a variety of undercover operations.

 Since taking office, Prosecutor Taylor has taken a proactive approach to law enforcement, maintaining a skilled and proficient response to criminal activity. While at the same time, he has initiated aggressive intelligence gathering and emergency response programs such as a monthly information sharing meeting with all law enforcement agencies and subsequent dissemination through a newsletter. The prosecutor has spearheaded a rapid response tactical team capable of coping with the most heavily armed suspects. In addition the prosecutor with the support and assistance of  the county chiefs of police association recently began the formation of regional SWAT teams to better protect our citizens and respond to critical incidents. Other innovative outreach programs have been initiated by Prosecutor Taylor in the schools and community to address such issues as school security, domestic violence prevention, juvenile bullying, gang recruitment and activity, and human relations.

 A skilled support staff completes Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office with seventeen experienced legal secretaries, typists and clerks assigned to various areas throughout the office responsible for the transcription of major crime statements, intake of criminal complaints and police reports from the Prosecutor’s Office as well as all law enforcement agencies in the County, data processing, filing and general clerical work. Included with the support staff is an Office of Victim/Witness Advocacy within the Prosecutor’s Office comprised of trained staff of three counselors, supervised by two coordinators offering a wide array of services to victims of crimes. There are five Prosecutors’ Agents assigned to such specialized duties in the office as criminal case preparation, evidence custody and computer network administration. A forensic chemist completes the support services provided by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office providing timely drug analysis and related services to the County’s law enforcement community as well as in special circumstances to federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration and state agencies such as the Park Rangers and Alcohol Beverage Control.