By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent
EDISON — The police department does not want and, more importantly, does not need, the state Attorney General’s office to take over its internal affairs division. That was the opinion of Chris Teleposky, president of Edison PBA Local 75, who said as much at the March 21 Township Council meeting.
Teleposky, who said he was speaking on behalf of his union as well as the department’s SOA union, said he wanted the council to know where the unions stood regarding legislation proposed by Sen. Peter Barnes (D-Middlesex). Teleposky said he also wanted the council to oppose it.
Barnes’ bill would establish a two-year pilot program in Edison that would require the attorney general to perform police internal affairs functions. The bill points out that there have been instances “where a police department has failed in its mission,” requiring the county prosecutor’s office to take over, and cites Middlesex County’s intervention in Edison since April 2011 as such a case.
Edison’s police department has been plagued by allegations of misconduct and infighting for years. However, Teleposky said there’s no reason for more oversight when those issues are squarely in the past. He pointed to the more than 50,000 calls that the township police responded to last year, and how of those calls, only 13 complaints were filed.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” he said. “That’s way down from years past. The process that is there right now is working. Officers are doing a better job, complaints are down, and production [motor-vehicle stops, etc.] is way up. And [Police Chief Thomas Bryan] will back me up on this; we’ve spoken about this many times.”
Teleposky said news reports, when citing problems with the township’s internal affairs division, repeatedly refer to the same incidents over and over, “making it seem like there’s chaos going on in Edison, which is not true.” He said the Edison police, state PBA and attorney general’s office also all oppose what he called “unnecessary, unwanted and unwarranted” legislation.
But it’s one of those incidents, namely the case of Patrolman Anthony Sarni, that has one resident, Bruce Diamond, staunchly in favor of additional oversight.
Sarni allegedly asked a woman in a hotel to model lingerie for him, and Mayor Thomas Lankey wanted him off the force. However, the mishandling of the internal affairs investigation of the incident resulted in Sarni successfully winning in court to keep his job following a paid two-year suspension.
Diamond has repeatedly asked the council to pursue intervention by the attorney general. He did so again at the March 21 meeting.
Following Teleposky’s comments, Diamond said he’s aware that the majority of officers do a commendable job. However, he countered, mismanagement within the internal affairs division has cost taxpayers money in the form of legal bills and salaries, such as Sarni’s.
“This is unacceptable to us,” Diamond said. “It’s not about the police department. It’s about the residents’ frustration.”
Bryan responded to Diamond, explaining that he could not specifically speak about that incident, but supported Teleposky’s comments about how well the department is currently doing.
“Our officers are out there 24/7 doing their job,” he said.
