One of the most shocking and depressing Rhode Island stories of 2018 was the revelation that 1,399 felony cases had been dismissed because state Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, for a variety of reasons, had not gotten around to prosecuting them.

As Providence Journal Staff Writer Kate Mulvaney reported (“Justice denied by system failure,” news, Dec. 30), some 70 serious crimes in Providence were not prosecuted, including alleged sexual assaults of juveniles, an assault with a dangerous weapon, firearms charges, and a driving-to-endanger-death-resulting case.

One of the dismissed cases involved a 20-year-old Worcester man who was accused of shooting and wounding two men in 2012 as nightclubs let out in Providence.

This systemic failure is an embarrassment to the state. It is a sign that there is something seriously wrong — and that those who are amply rewarded to protect the public did not do their jobs.

“It’s horrible when some of the victims of these crimes don’t see justice. It makes me sick,” said Steven Pare, commissioner of public safety in Providence.

“We are disappointed to learn that there has been a clear breakdown in communication in the process for some 1,300 cases,” said Central Falls Police Chief James Mendonca, the president of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association.

To his credit, Colonel Mendonca called for a comprehensive review, and vowed to work closely with the attorney general’s office “to better understand and address this serious matter.”

It appears that local police charged people with crimes, but never followed through with the attorney general’s office by providing required information or making certain that the cases were being prosecuted. Nor did the AG's office make sure it obtained the needed information.

Rhode Island State Police cases had greater success. “We believe one of the reasons so few of our cases were among those not prosecuted … is because our troopers work closely with state prosecutors to follow felony cases through the process,” said spokeswoman Laura Meade Kirk.

In 911 of the 1,399 cases, local police failed to submit investigative packages, and 690 of those cases were dismissed after they hit the statute of limitations. Some 428 cases were dismissed even though police provided full or partial investigative packages.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kilmartin’s grave weaknesses as a leader and administrator became all too clear in his second term. His record of respecting citizens’ right to know about their government was dismal. Now this.

His public relations flack, Amy Kempe, emphasized that the cases that fell through the cracks constituted a small percentage — only 3.5 percent — of those the office processed between 2008 and 2015. But that does not excuse this serious failure.

Communication between the attorney general’s office and local police should be much more robust. Computer technology should be employed to red-flag cases that may have fallen through the cracks. If it lacks sufficient resources to do its job, the attorney general’s office should seek more. In the meantime, it should prioritize by using its resources to prosecute the most serious crimes.

Fortunately, a new attorney general, former U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha, was sworn in last week. Citizens will be looking for him to dig into the system and find out what is going wrong.

This may take some time. He will have his work cut out for him in dealing with the system's flaws and the leadership failures of his predecessor.