CHIEF STATE INVESTIGATOR LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Code: 32938 State Unclassified Range: M36 (FY2027) Work week NL: FLSA exemptOvertime table (4A:3, Appx. A)

Salary: $87,368.41 - $122,298.49/year FY2027 schedule (last updated 2026-07-27)

Official job specification

The text below is the official specification published by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. The plain-language summary and analysis above are derived from it by NJ Civil Service Navigator. Source: the official specification page at NJ CSC.

Definition

Under direction of the Director, Division of Criminal Justice or the Director, Division of Gaming Enforcement, Department of Law and Public Safety, is responsible for planning, developing, organizing, coordinating, directing, and evaluating all investigative activities conducted in compliance with state enforcement programs; performs other related administrative and managerial responsibilities as required.

Examples of work

• Exercises all powers and rights of police officers, constables, and special deputy sheriffs in criminal matters, and has empowerment to function as a law enforcement officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and prosecution of offenders against the law.
• Functions as principal liaison and contact coordinator with federal/national/international law enforcement and other intelligence agencies.
• Plans and directs complex, comprehensive investigations of casino owners, financial backers, shareholders, officers, and directors; directs investigations of multinational companies and corporate conglomerates with sophisticated, diverse corporate structures that require complex financial and extensive background investigations.
• Plans and directs investigations of casino and gaming service industries and their corporate officers, and directs in-depth financial and solvency background investigations of major international corporations and related ancillary businesses identifying any alleged organized crime associations.
• Plans and directs background and financial investigations of varying complexity on individuals employed in the casino industry.
• Plans and directs investigation of activities related to casino operations including money laundering, improper conduct of casino games, suspicious casino credit transactions, and exclusion of alleged members and associates of organized crime.
• Plans and directs the operation of a specialized laboratory staffed by engineers and gaming equipment specialists which analyze software and electronic devices by inspecting gaming devices to ensure the integrity of the games, and oversees investigations of illegal scams related to these devices.
• Plans and directs the operation of the Records and Identification Section for processing fingerprints, oversees criminal and credit record checks, and maintains security of archived records on microfilm.
• Plans and directs investigations, including multimillion dollar investigations, conducted by assigned investigative personnel to prepare cases for prosecution involving white collar crime, organized crime, drug diversion, official corruption, program fraud, and Medicaid, antitrust, and environmental violations to determine suitability of casino license applicants for licensure purposes.
• Advises Division Director and Deputy Director on status of all ongoing investigations, and recommends short term and long range initiatives pursuant to establishing prosecution criteria of persons or organizations engaged in alleged illegal activities.
• Directs and coordinates the assigned workload of the department's state investigators engaged in organizing investigations at varying levels of difficulty and complexity concerning criminal, regulatory, and civil violations of state statutes and public laws.
• Plans, develops, and implements investigation procedures used to improve complex, specialized, and nonroutine investigative functions, and updates the State Investigator's Manual accordingly.
• Plans, assigns, and directs the caseload assignments of subordinate supervising personnel to ensure efficiency and compliance with established laws and policies; advises Assistant Chief State Investigators, Administrators of Investigations, and other affected personnel on changes in policies, directives, regulations, precedents, accounting procedures, investigative and auditing techniques, and other matters relating to the technical/administrative aspects of assigned caseloads.
• Establishes and oversees uniform policies/procedures for investigative personnel and personally assumes control of complex and major phases of investigations when warranted by circumstances or directed by the Director or Attorney General.
• Directs the supervision of reviews and searches and seizures relative to certain investigations, and inventory of items seized pursuant to the authority granted by NJ State Statutes relating to seizure and/or forfeiture laws.
• Monitors investigative program needs and directs redeployment of personnel from various investigative bureaus and sections to meet changing investigative priorities, deadline assignments, and to ensure attainment of investigative objective and case closure.
• Manages work operations and/or functional programs, and has responsibility for employee evaluations and for effectively recommending the hiring, firing, promoting, demoting, and/or disciplining of employees.
• Maintains liaison and working relationships with international/federal/state/local law enforcement officials on matters of mutual interest, and advises superiors of possible impact of other law enforcement actions of state investigators assigned temporarily to other jurisdictions' taskforce cases.
• Directs and coordinates extradition of all defendants from other and foreign jurisdictions, and reviews affidavits for search warrants, consensual authorizations, and wiretap orders, and oversees their execution.
• Directs the presentation of conducted investigations for prosecution, and testifies as a state witness before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, state grand jury, county grand juries, courts of law, and other judicial bodies.
• Maintains liaison and networking relationships with all state/federal agencies which are required by the US Attorney General's Office to report information pertaining to criminal and licensure violations under the jurisdiction's regulatory authority.
• Recommends budgeting, employment, promotions, programs retention, training, and other personnel and administrative actions concerning state investigation initiatives and programs of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
• Authorizes final determinations on all administrative activities involving the division's investigative bureaus, sections, and units.
• Directs programs of instruction to properly utilize various types of video, photographic, audio, and electronic communications, computer information systems, and other types of recording equipment, devices, and manual records used by the agency and in the corporate, casino, gaming, and financial environment.
• Will be required to learn to utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and computerized information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.

Education

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's degree.

Experience

Seven (7) years of experience in planning, organizing, and coordinating activities of an organization or agency engaged in large-scale investigative activities, three (3) years of which shall have been in a supervisory capacity. One (1) year of the indicated experience indicated shall have involved the review and analysis of financial accounting records and documents.

License

Appointees will be required to possess a driver's license valid in New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle, rather than employee mobility, is necessary to perform essential duties of the position.

<b>SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS:</b>

Knowledge, skills and abilities

• Knowledge of investigative techniques including both law enforcement and financial investigations.
• Knowledge of law enforcement operations and procedures on local/state/national/federal/international levels.
• Knowledge of business and investigative systems, methodologies, and procedures including the continuous revision and alteration of investigative methods and procedures as may be required.
• Knowledge of principles of communications to achieve desired results.
• Knowledge of corporate structures, financial statements, and financial fraud in large corporations and the ability to apply this knowledge in conducting audit reviews and administrative investigations.
• Knowledge of the casino industry including the laws, regulations, operations, staffing, and extensive directories of ancillary related industries.
• Knowledge of management principles and supervisory techniques.
• Knowledge of methods used in developing work procedures and in delegating work assignments, instructions, and directions to subordinate supervisory investigators.
• Knowledge of practices and techniques of employee supervision and conducting evaluations and performance assessments.
• Knowledge of programs for directing the care, usage, security, training, and integrity of firearms and other restraint and defense equipment.
• Knowledge of electronic communications equipment and database software applications utilized in the performance of assigned duties.
• Knowledge of procedures for recording statements attained from witnesses during the course of an investigation.
• Knowledge of surveillance methods and procedures.
• Knowledge of principles and practices of identifying needs assessment.
• Knowledge of principles and techniques of mediation.
• Knowledge of concepts and goals of the agency and of techniques and aspects of resource planning and organizational and component program development and analysis.
• Knowledge of public and government resources management concepts and techniques.
• Knowledge of resource allocation concepts employed to develop optimum fiscal spending plans in a public organization.
• Ability to exercise all powers and rights of police officers, constables, and special deputy sheriffs in criminal matters and to function as a law enforcement officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and prosecution of offenders against the law.
• Ability to understand and explain complex business/corporate consolidations, liquidations, disbursements, reorganizations, and restructurings of entities.
• Ability to interpret and effectively communicate to subordinate personnel the principles of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standards of field investigative work.
• Ability to interpret and understand all casino and gaming industry internal controls and accounting systems which document all money received and dispersed.
• Ability to understand the relationship between casino regulations and internal controls.
• Ability to interpret financial records of the hotel and gaming industries as they relate to the provisions of the New Jersey Casino Control Act and regulations.
• Ability to interpret and communicate to subordinate personnel the complexities of the investment industry, banking industry, and internal/external transfer/transit (transactions) of funds via electronic networking communications systems and how it relates to the operation and financing of the casino industry and other corporate and financial institutions.
• Ability to maintain informants and to isolate legal implications from interrogations and information attained from interviews of witnesses.
• Ability to direct investigations of detecting white-collar methods of defrauding the public, corruption, and complicated civil/criminal antitrust matters.
• Ability to prepare and direct the preparation of detailed and/or technically concise, accurate financial and investigative reports containing findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Ability to direct the development of intelligence sources and interpret useful/viable information for detection purposes.
• Ability to prepare and provide detailed reports on any issues, cases, problems, or conditions warranting specific action and the action taken.
• Ability to interrogate and interview witnesses and evaluate the reliability/credibility of witnesses' oral or written statements.
• Ability to identify and pursue potential investigative areas.
• Ability to maintain liaison with local/state/national/federal/international law enforcement agencies.
• Ability to give and solicit testimony involving criminal, civil, regulatory, or licensure investigations for use before a court of law or other investigative forums or hearings.
• Ability to testify as a state witness in criminal/regulatory/civil investigations before state grand juries, federal court, other courts of law, or other judicial or hearing forums.
• Ability to communicate effectively with all levels of corporate executives and employees.
• Ability to communicate with casino personnel in language common to the casino and gaming industry.
• Ability to make decisions and determine what recommendations should be referred to superiors.
• Ability to qualify with firearms on a semiannual basis.
• Ability to direct the instruction of programs on how to utilize various types of video, photographic, audio, and electronic communications, computer information systems, and other types of recording equipment, devices, and manual recordings used by the agency and in the corporate, casino, gaming, and financial environment.
• Ability to learn to utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.
• Ability to read, write, speak, understand, and communicate in English sufficiently to perform the duties of this position. American Sign Language or Braille may also be considered as acceptable forms of communication.
• Persons with mental or physical disabilities are eligible as long as they can perform essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. If the accommodation cannot be made because it would cause the employer undue hardship, such persons may not be eligible

Note

The definition and examples of work for this title are for illustrative purposes only. A particular position using this title may not perform all duties listed in this job specification. Conversely, all duties performed on the job may not be listed.

Applicants who do not possess the required education may substitute additional experience as indicated on a year-for-year basis with thirty (30) semester hour credits being equal to one (1) year of experience.

A Master's degree or Certified Public Accounting Certificate (CPA) may be substituted for one (1) year of the indicated nonsupervisory experience.

<b>SPECIAL NOTE</b>

Applicants accepting employment are required to adhere to employment restrictions that they not pursue outside gainful employment during their tenure with either the Division of Gaming Enforcement or Division of Criminal Justice unless approved by the Attorney General.

Appointees to this position must successfully qualify semi-annually in the use of firearms.