LEAA Orientation - Executive Secretariat and LEAA Regional Offices

• NCJ Number: 81938
• Author(s): C Marinaccio; C Rinkevich
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Corporate Author: US Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Videotape, running time 22 minutes, color, 1 inch.

Annotation

Principal functions and structure are delineated for LEAA's Executive Secretariat and Regional Offices, with emphasis on the process by which Federal (LEAA) policies are implemented at the local level.

Abstract

The Executive Secretariat, consisting of a director, three assistants, and a secretary, was created in 1973 to improve coordination of LEAA's internal matters. It is involved in the generation, formulation, and distribution of agency guidelines and in the weekly operations staff meeting where central office managers convene for discussion of administrative matters. The Secretariat prepares the meeting's agenda and writes the minutes, which are published and distributed to employees. The Secretariat's Correspondence Control Unit manages all LEAA's incoming and outgoing mail. The Secretariat also serves internal management and the control of grants by periodically reviewing all contracts. LEAA regional offices are the agency's primary operational arm in its efforts to reduce crime in partnership with the States. The 10 regional offices under the Central Office of Regional Operations represent the link between policies and their implementation in the States. Each regional office comprises a regional administrator's office, an operations division, a technical assistance division, and a financial management division. The operations division is staffed by State representatives who, as general practitioners, oversee LEAA program operations in the respective States of the region. They refer local programs to technical assistance specialists who advise on police, court, narcotics, planning and evaluation, and other matters. The final management division administers all Federal grants to State programs within a region. The Atlanta Regional Office, as an example of regional activities, serves eight States, is the second largest in size and dollar amounts, and oversees 9,000 criminal justice agencies. The delivery of Federal policy directives to regional offices for implementation follows the same structural pathways as Federal-to-local funding flows. Regional offices are a crucial element in this network.