RIDGEWAY DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLICY
BOOK
May, 2022
INTRODUCTION
This policy book has been created to give clear guidance to Department of Justice employees
about expectations, department structure, internal procedure and all things related to the
intricacies of the Department of Justice.
These are the official policies and procedures of the Department of Justice. No employee of the
Department of Justice may begin conducting their duties until they have thoroughly read and
comprehend all of the rules and procedures laid out in this book.
These policies were adopted by the Ridgeway Department of Justice on May 14, 2022. They
were produced by Attorney General Clifford2, and approved by the relevant Department of
Justice leadership.
Last Amended -
Date: 09/10/2022
Approved By: Attorney General Techiey
SECTION 1: DEPARTMENT STRUCTURE
A. Criminal Division
a. The criminal division will be responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases unless
otherwise specified.
b. The criminal division will have one Assistant Attorney General, and a specified
budget of State Attorneys and Legal Staff as determined by the Attorney General
or their delegate.
B. Office of Ammunition, Tasers, and Firearms
a. The Office of Ammunition, Tasers, and Firearms is responsible for prosecuting all
cases in which the possession of illegal firearms is the principal reason for the
case’s existence.
b. The Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Ammunition, Tasers, and
Firearms shall promulgate a procedure for officers to obtain a search warrant, or
arrest warrant. These procedures shall go into effect upon signature of the
Attorney General.
c. The Office of Ammunition, Tasers, and Firearms shall be the primary office in the
Department of Justice tasked with the issuance, approval, and execution of search
warrants.
d. The Office of Ammunition, Tasers, and Firearms shall also prosecute all cases in
which the execution of a search warrant recovers more than seven illegal items.
Or less if the Prosecutor deems the prosecution in the best interest of the State.
i. Where a conflict exists between the jurisdiction of the Office of
Ammunition, Tasers, and Firearms and the Criminal Division, the
Criminal Division will take lead so long as there is a felony charge
unrelated to firearms.
1. The Criminal Division may also decide to give cases to the ATF
office only if they have a firearm related charge, even if the
Criminal Division would have original jurisdiction.
e. Where a conflict exists between the jurisdiction of the Office of Ammunition,
Tasers, and Firearms and the Office of Government Affairs, one prosecutor from
each division will take part in the case unless either division seeks to waive their
claim of jurisdiction.
C. Office of Government Affairs
a. The Office of Government Affairs will be responsible for handling all
investigations into criminal matters related to the government and subsequent
prosecutions thereof. This includes members of law enforcement agencies, or any
government official if the action was related to their capacity as a government
official.
b. The Office of Government Affairs will also conduct bimonthly audits of all Law
Enforcement Agencies to ensure that the Internal Affairs Divisions are operating
effectively consistent with Subsection 6.1(f) of the Judiciary Act.
i. The procedure for audits shall be established by the Assistant Attorney
General of the Office of Government Affairs upon the signature of the
Attorney General.
ii. These audits will review all Internal Affairs agency tips, reports, and
complaints, and ensure that they were investigated thoroughly and fully
and that there are accurate records of all internal affairs investigations.
iii. After the execution of each audit, the State Attorney responsible for
investigating that agency will publish a report signed by the Assistant
Attorney General of the Government Affairs Office detailing their
findings, conclusions, and suggestions. This report will be sent to the
Attorney General, the head of the Internal Affairs division of the
respective agency, and finally to the department head of the respective
agency.
D. Office of the Solicitor General
a. The Office of the Solicitor General is responsible for all litigation involving the
Government consistent with the Judiciary act.
b. All appeals taken from lower courts must be approved by the Solicitor General or
the Attorney General.
c. The Solicitor General may from time to time issue memorandums instructing
State agencies about new developments in the law, or clarifying ambiguities in the
law.
d. Upon request from any State Agency, the Office of the Solicitor General may
provide a written opinion of the law relating to a specific set of facts.
e. The Solicitor General shall take reasonable steps to ensure that Departments are
comfortable and willing to reach out to the office for legal advice.
E. Office of Special Investigations
1. Reserved.
SECTION 2: STAFF
A. Assistant Attorneys General
a. Assistant Attorneys General shall be the direct supervisor of all State Attorneys
for each respective division.
b. Assistant Attorneys General shall be admitted to the State Bar.
B. State Attorneys
a. State Attorneys must be admitted to practice in the State Bar.
b. State Attorneys will be assigned to practice in one of the core divisions of the
Department of Justice but may be asked to assist outside where they would
normally operate.
c. State Attorneys can transfer divisions upon consent of the Assistant Attorneys
General of both the division the attorney is currently in and the division the
Attorney wants to be in.
C. Legal Staff
a. Legal staff shall be members of the public, not admitted to the State bar.
b. Legal staff shall aid in clerical work at the Department of Justice including
processing and investigating cases, filling papers, and maintaining trello
information.
c. Legal staff may also be responsible for department administration where required
by the Attorney General.
d. No legal staffer may be admitted to practice law unless given special permission
by the Attorney General or his delegate.
SUBSECTION 2.1: STAFF POLICIES
A. Ethics
a. All attorneys are expected to adhere to the Bar Code of Ethics.
i. All staff are expected to be conscious of any conflicts of interest, and may
not act upon them. In the event that conflict of interests exists, no staff
member shall participate in the proceedings relating to the conflict.
1. No staff member may be a part of a case in which they are a
member of the same department of the Defendant.
b. All staff should make each decision in observance of furthering the interest of the
State and of the People and not based on any personally held prejudices or
reservations.
c. Staff of the Department of Justice must remain apolitical at all times while acting
in their capacity.
d. No staff member may campaign for any political cause, candidate, or otherwise
while on the Department of Justice Team.
e. Staff should generally conduct themselves in a way that does not contravene
general principles of ethics.
f. No attorney who works for the Department of Justice may represent, give advice
to, or in any way assist any other individual in their capacity as an attorney
outside of their normal duties.
g. Violations of the rules of ethics hereinstated are punishable by warnings for each
violation, or by termination.
B. Professionalism
a. All staff members are expected to remain professional at all times while
representing the Department of Justice.
b. All staff members must at all times abide by the word of the law, and
Constitution.
c. Attorneys will conduct themselves professionally before the courts and treat
opposing counsel, defendants, the court, and anyone else involved with respect.
d. All Staff members of the Department of Justice must dress appropriately while
representing the Department.
i. Members must wear formal wear at all times.
1. No polos, button downs, or similar items.
ii. Clothing should not be unprofessional.
iii. No unprofessional hats or accessories should be worn.
iv. Black suits should be avoided at all costs because they are ugly.
1. Suits of other colors are the preferred option.
2. In the event that a black suit is the only option, it may be worn.
3. In the event that a staff member cannot afford to wear clothing in
accordance with this section, they should opt for the next best
thing.
e. Staff members are expected to treat everyone with respect, and kindness. No less
will be tolerated.
f. Staff members may not bring firearms or any weapons into court or any other
setting in which they are conducting official business on behalf of the Department
of Justice.
g. Transgressions of professionalism are punishable by warnings for each offense or
termination.
C. Activity
a. All members of the staff are expected to remain active enough to fully and
effectively carry out their assigned tasks.
b. Attorneys should be able to work through the cases on their docket, and litigate
them actively.
c. Individuals that are unable to carry out their duties in a timely manner will be
deemed inactive.
d. In the event that an attorney must take a leave of absence, they shall notify their
supervisor, and close their docket, and take reasonable measures to ensure the
cases currently on their docket are handled effectively.
e. Inactivity is punishable by warnings or termination.
D. Hiring
a. Staff at the Department of Justice must be hired.
b. All hired individuals must have completed an application.
c. All hiring shall be merits based in accordance with the law.
d. Hiring of individuals will be conducted by the Assistant Attorney General of the
respective agency. No person, however, shall be employed without approval by
the Attorney General first.
e. After someone is hired into the Department, they must sign a nondisclosure
agreement, read all of the civil rules of procedure, criminal rules of procedure,
rules of evidence, rules of ethics, Department of Justice rules, and the
Constitution of the State of Ridgeway.
E. Confidentiality
a. All staff members of the Department of Justice are duty-bound to maintain
confidentiality as it relates to all internal operations, documents, deliberations,
fillings, or writings of the Department of Justice.
i. This list is not exhaustive and extends to encapsulate any information
materially related to the Department of Justice.
b. Staff members must take reasonable measures to ensure that they are not
negligently exposing sensitive information.
c. Staff members shall take reasonable members to protect the identity of
confidential informants, or parties of sealed proceedings.
d. Any internal document, deliberation, operation or other sensitive information that
an employee seeks to make public or otherwise share with an outside source must
obtain approval from the Assistant Attorney General of their respective division
or above.
i. Where the release of sensitive information could affect multiple divisions,
the staff member will make ample effort to obtain permission from all
affected divisions.
SECTION 3: CASE FILLING
A. Fillings
a. Case fillings occur either through the DOJ tip line, or through in-game filling.
Both appear in the DOJ Central Processing trello.
B. Investigations
a. Once on the DOJ Central Processing trello, an investigator will conduct an
investigation consistent with the investigation policies and fill out either a
criminal information, or an investigation affidavit.
b. The criminal information shall be used if an investigator thinks that charges can
be filed. If the investigator thinks that charges cannot be filed, she will fill out an
investigation affidavit which will summarize the case for the prosecutor.
c. Investigations of cases shall not take longer than 5 days.
C. Division Review
a. After the investigation is complete, the case card will be transferred from the
central processing trello to the trello board of the division that should take the
case. This transfer will be made by any staff in the Department of Justice, not by
an investigator.
i. The Prosecutor will be assigned the case by the Assistant Attorney
General of their respective division. They will verify to make sure that the
investigation is complete. They will review the case and make the
discretionary decision to prosecute based upon the following metrics:
1. The sufficiency of evidence and likelihood of obtaining a
conviction,
2. Whether spending time prosecuting the case is in the best interest
of justice,
3. Whether the benefit of prosecuting outweighs the cost of
prosecuting,
4. The past criminal history of the Defendant,
5. Whether prosecuting the case legitimately furthers the interest of
the State and of the People.
ii. Upon making the decision to prosecute, the prosecutor will certify the
criminal information, ensure that it was completed fully and correctly, and
then make it a PDF.
iii. If the Assistant Attorney General of the respective office deems it
necessary, they may require that they have the opportunity to review the
case prior to filing to make the final decision to prosecute.
iv. Division review of a case shall not take longer than 7 days after the case
has been received by division.
D. State Filling
a. Upon having completed information, the Prosecutor will create a case card on the
central processing trello based upon the format provided.
b. They will link all evidence (unless they intend to later get it sealed), attach the
criminal information, and check to make sure that the case is ready to be filed.
c. They will then move the case to the “awaiting transfer to Superior Court” list.
Once it is here, the Attorney General, or clerk of the Superior Court, will transfer
the case to the Superior Court.
E. Preparation
a. After the Prosecutor has filed the case, she must prepare for it. No Department of
Justice attorney may be unprepared for a case they have filed or any case in which
they are acting as counsel.
b. This includes conducting further investigation, obtaining more witness statements,
and seeking out more evidence.
c. The lead counsel on any case that will go to trial must complete a “case-in-chief”
and attach it to the case information card on their docket.
F. Litigation
a. Attorneys will ensure that they are prepared for trial, and try their best at trial.
They will have read all applicable rules of procedure, and follow them diligently.
