The bill passed the committee but faces a long road.
State Sen. Peter Barnes (File photo) EDISON -- A bill that would require the state attorney general to take over the Edison Police Department's Internal Affairs functions for two years unanimously cleared its first hurdle Thursday.
But the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Peter Barnes, has a much longer road to travel to become law. It faces obstacles, notably resistance from Edison's council and administration, its police unions, and the state attorney general's office. It must pass the full Senate, the Assembly, and then must be signed by the governor.
Barnes, however, is steadfast that the bill is a necessary step in reeling in the problems of a long-troubled department, and persuaded the fellow members of the Law and Public Safety committee of the same. The panel approved the bill unanimously.
"I cannot stand by as an Edison resident and let something go that I know is wrong," Barnes said, according to an audio recording of the meeting.
The Edison Police Department has long been racked by startling levels of misconduct and infighting. The dysfunction even reached the Internal Affairs department, an office that is supposed to be apolitical and sacrosanct. The Middlesex County prosecutor's office has had an extensive oversight role in the IA department since 2013, after a power struggle left it unclear exactly who was running the show.
A representative for the state attorney general and a state police union representative spoke at the hearing against Barnes' bill, based on that special oversight by the prosecutor. The prosecutor has a more active role in Edison's IA than any other department in the county, and Andrew Carey recently said that that the office is now among the best in the state.
"We have seen very very strong improvement" with the Middlesex County prosecutor's special oversight, said Stephan Finkel, an assistant attorney general. "We're very encouraged by what's been going on."
Said Patrick Colligan, the state PBA president: "This bill enters a dangerous territory. When you do legislation for one town from the New Jersey Senate, what happens when we have a complaint about the dog catchers in Mahwah or the crossing guards in Cape May?"
Those are just two groups that have resisted Barnes' efforts. Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan at a public meeting last week spoke at length about why he felt the bill was unnecessary, and even suggested other ways that state money could be better spent, an unusual foray into legislative opining by an apolitical public official.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment, but statistics provided by officials there show that the number of complaints filed against Edison cops in 2015 was only half of what it was in 2012, the year before the prosecutor's office took an oversight role there.
In 2012, citizens filed complaints against 43 cops; officers filed complaints against 13 other officers; and the "agency" itself, presumably the police department, filed complaints against two cops, a total of 58.
In 2015, however, citizens filed complaints against 19 cops; officers didn't file any complaints against each other (a stunning turn of events, given the widely held perceptions that officers are more interested in fighting with each other than fighting crime); and the agency itself filed 11 complaints, a total of 30.
The Middlesex County prosecutor's office reports those numbers to the attorney general.
Barnes, however, rebutted those points. For one, Prosecutor Carey, an "honorable man," won't be in the department forever, so what happens when he leaves?
"So it's going to mean that it goes back to Edison, and a lot of people are afraid Edison's system isn't going to work without the oversight," Barnes said in a phone interview after the vote.
Plus, Barnes argued, the town was not able to fire a police officer who admitted that he went to a woman's hotel room while in full uniform and requested she model lingerie for him. A judge and hearing officer determined that the IA process went awry in Edison, missing deadlines and asking faulty questions.
Barnes, a resident of the township, also said that he's heard from members of Edison's large and diverse community who feel their complaints against officers have been "whitewashed."
"It'll hopefully make the system more accessible to the minority community and women," Barnes said.
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.