Former SDNY Federal Prosecutor and Current Senior Counsel to the AG, Drew Skinner, named as Incoming Executive Director

TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced the retirement of the inaugural executive director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), after a more than five-year tenure in which he built the Office, guided OPIA through major police reforms in New Jersey, and oversaw high-profile investigations of fatal police encounters and public corruption.

Executive Director Thomas J. Eicher, a former federal prosecutor who was recruited in September 2018 to lead OPIA when it was founded, is set to retire as the Office’s Executive Director in mid-April — after playing a pivotal role in changes to police use-of-force policy in New Jersey, supervising some of the most sensitive investigations conducted by the State, and being instrumental in the introduction of police licensing.

Drew Skinner, currently Senior Counsel to the Attorney General, will assume the role of Executive Director of OPIA upon Eicher’s retirement. Skinner joined Attorney General Platkin’s leadership team in September 2023 after serving for almost nine years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he was co-chief of the Violent and Organized Crime Unit and part of the office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.

“Tom Eicher has served with dedication and honor in one of the most influential roles in New Jersey government. He joined the State after three decades of service to this country, during which time he mentored a generation of prosecutors and never shied away from holding wrongdoers to account, no matter how powerful they were,” said Attorney General Platkin. “With the State, Tom assumed a role that enabled him to have a transformative, positive impact on the law enforcement profession, and to strengthen the public’s trust in government institutions, particularly the criminal justice system. He maximized that potential – working tirelessly in the pursuit of justice and serving as a trusted advisor to me and my predecessors. While I will miss relying on Tom’s counsel, I can think of no one better suited to continue that work than Drew Skinner, who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in complicated criminal matters on the federal level to this critical role.”

“Tom Eicher had a new and difficult job within the Department, dealing with matters that drew intense public interest and scrutiny, and tackling problems that put him into conflicts with influential people and powerful institutions,” said First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay V. Ruotolo. “But he never shied away from the challenges and the roadblocks. His unwavering efforts to make reforms and to hold the powerful to account have been a tremendous asset to the public.  I – like many people across New Jersey – am grateful for his public service.”

“I am grateful to have had this opportunity to serve the people of New Jersey, and I am proud of what the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability has accomplished over the past five years,” said Tom Eicher, Executive Director of OPIA. “Any accomplishments are the result of the extraordinary professionalism, dedication, and hard work of the attorneys, investigators, and staff in OPIA who have been dedicated to a simple concept – doing what is right and just every day. I hope our work has made for a more transparent and more just New Jersey – a place where the people have greater confidence in their public servants and their government through increased transparency and accountability for public officials.”

“It’s an honor to follow such a dedicated public servant as Tom Eicher in leading this office,” said Drew Skinner, Senior Counsel to the Attorney General. “Every day the career prosecutors, investigators, and staff at OPIA carry out some of the most complex and high-impact work in the State to clean up corruption, hold wrongdoers to account, and ensure the public’s trust in their government. Together we will continue that critical mission without fear or favor.”

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Eicher served as a federal prosecutor for more than 30 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey. During his time at the Justice Department, he worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations, and supervised cases dealing with public corruption, racketeering, homicide, narcotics, securities fraud, and civil rights matters.

Between 2010 and 2018, Eicher served as Chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he managed more than 100 prosecutors, and from 2015 to 2018, he served on an advisory committee that provided policy advice to four U.S. Attorneys General.

At the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, Eicher played a key role in shaping a 2020 overhaul of law enforcement use-of-force policies, and he trained prosecutors and officers statewide on how to implement those significant changes, including new rules making uses of force a last resort, after attempts at de-escalation fail, and providing new guidance on the use of firearms as well as less-lethal weapons.

Eicher and his office’s responsibilities expanded dramatically with the passage of a 2019 law, P.L. 2019, c. 1, requiring the Attorney General’s Office to investigate fatal police encounters. Each case must now be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved. When those cases became the responsibility of Eicher’s OPIA, he and the Attorney General’s Office assembled a team of attorneys and investigators to handle the investigations and potential prosecutions, and brought together community and faith leaders to assist in devising protocols for how to deal with those cases. These protocols addressed every aspect of the cases, including how they could be fairly presented to a grand jury and how to keep communities, relatives of the deceased, police union representatives, and the public notified of case developments. Eicher was instrumental in designing a system that is transparent and fair – and with every case he and his team handle, he examines how policy and police procedure could be further improved upon to protect civilians and officers.

Eicher also worked with police chiefs across the state and with the Office of Justice Data to collect use of force information from more than 500 police agencies, and make it available to the public through an online portal.

Additionally, Eicher helped craft the policies for the licensing of police officers in New Jersey, which began this year. He and his team reviewed the licensure programs of numerous other states in search of the best aspects of their statutes and regulations, then made a series of recommendations and worked with the Attorney General to design a proposed statutory framework. That eventually led to the signing of the police licensing law by Governor Phil Murphy in late 2022. Eicher subsequently took responsibility for the New Jersey Police Training Commission, which oversees the licensing of New Jersey police officers and determines whether any action should be taken against any license holder.

Eicher’s successor, Drew Skinner, was an Assistant United States Attorney for almost nine years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Skinner rose to become co-chief of the Violent & Organized Crime Unit in that office where he supervised approximately 20 AUSAs responsible for prosecuting racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, money laundering and other offenses. Prior to that, Skinner was a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, where he investigated and tried securities fraud, tax fraud, cryptocurrency fraud, and other cases. He also served as a member of the SDNY’s Conviction Integrity Committee, the FBI’s national Human Source Review Committee, and as the Southern District’s Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator, Ghost Gun Specialist, and Victims’ Rights Coordinator.

In 2019, Skinner received the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, one of the U.S. Justice Department’s highest honors.

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