The case has ended without charges, but with plenty of acrimony in a department accustomed to it. Watch video
EDISON -- On Dec. 10, 2013, two detectives with the Middlesex County prosecutor's office were dispatched to investigate a possible crime. Lt. Daniel Del Bagno and Investigator Brian Gilmurray soon arrived at the scene: the Edison Police Department.
Someone, according to union representatives, may have been illegally wiretapping private conversations in the police department. An array of security cameras that were only supposed to record video were somehow recording audio, too.
Del Bagno, according to investigators' memos, told Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan to preserve all the recordings.
That's where the investigation apparently hit a roadblock: Bryan, before the investigators had arrived, had already ordered all the data to be deleted, the county detectives said. Bryan explained he was trying to protect the officers who may have been improperly recorded due to what he called a technical gltich, and said he did nothing wrong.
Now, more than two years later, the case has concluded without criminal charges -- but with plenty of acrimony in a department whose inner workings are practically defined by it.
Two union lawyers are now asking for state intervention, accusing Bryan of illegally destroying the evidence of potential wiretapping. More broadly, they say, the case shows that police chiefs in the state operate with little oversight and unfettered authority.
Bryan, meanwhile, said he welcomes any investigation, because he did nothing wrong -- in fact, he said, the town's vendor took responsibility for the improper recordings, which he said were accidental. He did not answer questions about whether he ordered the data to be deleted.
Thousands of hours of private conversations could have been compromised in the improper recordings, union officials have said, including not just discussions among officers, but private statements by victims of crimes, union activities, and conversations between lawyers and their clients. New Jersey law generally outlaws audio recording if none of the participants is aware of it.
"It is clear... that the chief recorded oral conversations illegally," union attorneys Peter Paris and David DeFillippo wrote in a blistering letter requesting help from the State Commission of Investigation. "It is also clear that the chief covered it up by destroying much, if not all, of the evidence. And, in lieu of an objective investigation, the Middlesex County prosecutor's office and township officials were complicit in the cover-up."
Edison Police Chief Tom Bryan speaks at a police hiring ceremony in December 2015. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) In closing the investigation this past summer, the Middlesex County prosecutor's office said that based on the available information -- limited because Bryan allegedly ordered much of it deleted -- there was no evidence of a crime.
"This (union) complaint," Bryan said in a written statement, "does not actually reflect the sentiments of most PBA and SOA members. Instead, it is another barefaced attempt by a small disgruntled group of officers to derail the ongoing reforms that are being made to enhance professionalism and accountability in our department."
Wayne Fisher, a Rutgers University professor and expert on New Jersey police policies who helped write the state's Internal Affairs policies, questioned Bryan's apparent decision to delete the data.
"For a police chief to immediately destroy that kind of data before it's been reviewed by the prosecutor is not an appropriate action, in my opinion, on the part of the chief," Fisher said. "Because (the data) might be evidence of criminal wrongdoing."
But, Fisher said, he was confident that the prosecutor's office reviewed the matter thoroughly, including Bryan's explanation that he was trying to protect his officers.
"I'm sure the prosecutor's office took that explanation into account when they reviewed the totality of the circumstances," Fisher said.
That's the first line of defense in keeping chiefs honest, Fisher said: the prosecutor's office. The police chief in Perth Amboy, for example, was suspended after he was charged by the prosecutor's office with theft.
"There are flaws in any system," Fisher said. "But the system that we have established in New Jersey includes accountability for possible criminal acts, not only on line police officers but up to and including the chief."
In a written statement last week, Bryan said that he immediately contacted the Middlesex County prosecutor's office when he learned about the improper recordings. (James O'Neill, a spokesman for the office, did not respond to requests for comment.)
Avi Kashi, of Safe Life Security Corp., said that a system reboot likely caused the microphones in the cameras to be activated, according to a letter provided by the township. After the incident, the microphones were removed from the cameras.
Edison Police Chief Tom Bryan at a December 2014 hiring ceremony. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Captain Christopher Penna, a prosecutor's office investigator, said that a major contributing factor to the small amount of data recovered was "Chief Bryan's admission" that he ordered the data to be deleted. Penna also said that there was no evidence on Bryan's computer, or anyone else's, to indicate that someone had improperly stored or saved the recordings.
Bryan said it's all political.
"I will not succumb to these pressures, threats and politically motivated tactics," Bryan said in his statement. "Our many conscientious, dedicated police officers and, more importantly, the people who live and work in Edison deserve nothing less."
The lawyers representing Edison's police unions are not so ready to accept Bryan's explanation. Their letter requesting an investigation was CC'ed to members of the town council, the attorney general, several state legislators, and The Star-Ledger's editorial board.
"It wasn't for him to decide to dump data," Paris said in an interview. "It was for the prosecutor's office. They could have reviewed everything, and the identities and conversations would have remained confidential."
Paris said that any politics in this situation are related to the inability to discipline or investigate police chiefs.
"They're kings of their own domain," Paris said. "There is no one to go to."
See full letter with investigators' memos:
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.