Meet NCJA's New President: David Steingraber

David Steingraber is the executive director of the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance (OJA). In this capacity Mr. Steingraber oversees policy development and grant administration in Wisconsin's criminal justice, juvenile justice, homeland security and VAWA grant programs. OJA is also home to the Wisconsin Justice Information Sharing (WIJIS) program, the state's Statistical Analysis Center, and the Sex Offender Apprehension and Felony Enforcement (SAFE) team. Prior to his current position, Mr. Steingraber served nearly 30 years as chief of police in three Wisconsin police departments before being appointed to head the Division of Law Enforcement Services in the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

After two terms as vice-president and a month after settling into his new role as NCJA President, we asked Steingraber to share his vision for NCJA's future:

During the past several years, NCJA has emerged as a leading voice for the broader criminal justice community at the state and local level. Our primary focus has been on federal funding to support innovative and effective local strategies within the criminal justice system. We have aggressively pursued both administrative issues and increased funding levels. I hope to build on this capacity as a way to ensure the continued viability of the state – federal partnership.

During the past year NCJA has moved to streamline our policy positions on critical criminal justice issues. NCJA staff are now better positioned to respond to emerging issues on behalf of our members. As Congress considers national policy on criminal justice issues, our voice needs to be heard.

The criminal justice system across the nation faces both a resurgence of old challenges and emergence of new challenges. The increase in violent crime, continuing threats of terrorism, the unique problems in assisting immigrant victims, a strained corrections system and competition for limited resources to name a few of these challenges. NCJA needs to be a vehicle for the exchange of information about new, innovative and effective strategies between our members. We need to support the efforts of our primary membership, the state administering agencies for federal anti-crime funding, in their efforts to reinforce and craft new responses to these challenges. This can be done by making technical assistance available to our members and being strong advocates for their interests at the federal level.

The foundation for achieving these goals is already in place. Maintaining a long term focus on these goals will ensure that NCJA grows stronger as the voice of Criminal Justice in the nation's Capital.