Homicide

FATAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT

 
The Fatal Investigation Unit responds to and investigates all homicides and suspicious deaths within Passaic County, including cases that involve deaths in police custody. The unit also investigates incidents of vehicular homicide, arson and environmental offenses. Further, each detective assigned to the unit is assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Shooting Response Team, which investigates all incidents of police involved shootings. Additionally, members of this unit may also conduct investigations which require special attention due to the significance or sensitivity of the matter under investigation.


At the investigative level, the detectives of the Homicide Unit work together with local police detectives from the onset of the investigation through prosecution and assist in coordination with other agencies such as the Passaic County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigation Unit, the State of New Jersey Regional Medical Examiner's Office, the New Jersey State Police Laboratory, as well as federal authorities and law enforcement agencies from outside the State of New Jersey.

The Fatal Investigations Unit is supervised by Senior Assistant Prosecutor In-Charge Allan Nawrocki.   The prosecutors assigned to the Fatal Investigations Unit provide legal advice to investigating detectives throughout the investigative process and are responsible for presenting cases before the Grand Jury, formulating and negotiating plea offers, as well as representing the State at preliminary hearings and motions. The legal staff retains a select number of the cases investigated by the unit and represents the State through trial, while the remainder of the cases are turned over to the Trial Section for prosecution.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor In-Charge Allan Nawrocki can be reached at ANawrocki@passaiccountynj.org