One week unpaid suspension recommended for Edison police chief

Hearing officer finds police chief guilty on four of six charges

By Kathy Chang

A hearing officer found Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan guilty on four of the six charges that the administration filed against him by in March.

Labor attorney Kenneth Rosenberg, Roseland, recommended in his May 16 decision a five-day unpaid suspension to be served under the discretion of the township.

Rosenberg found Bryan guilty of insubordination for failing to discipline three captains who did not comply with his orders on transferring a civilian employee to another department. Bryan said during the hearing that he verbally disciplined the three captains, according to the ruling; however, Rosenberg said he did not memorialize the verbal reprimand and did not place a performance action notice in the file as required by the department’s rules and regulations.

Rosenberg also found Bryan guilty of neglect of duty for failing to follow instruction to provide training for personnel in communications at any time during 2010, and neglect of duty for failing to follow instructions to provide 68 hours of public safety dispatcher training.

The police chief said during the hearing that he was not notified that the training had not taken place, and asserted that the township ambushed him with the charges because he was never given an opportunity to remedy the situation. Rosenberg said in the ruling that even though Bryan was not notified about the lack of training, “the buck stops with him” as chief of police.

The last charge Rosenberg found Bryan guilty of was neglect of duty for failure to take steps to prepare for the layoffs of two part-time youth counselors. Rosenberg, in the ruling, said Bryan did not deliberately refuse to follow then-township Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez’s instruction to prepare for the layoffs, but that he neglected to follow the instructions because his attention was apparently diverted by numerous issues that were going on in his department at that time.

Rosenberg dismissed two charges against the chief — one that accused him of failing to provide the administration with an explanation for his conduct in not reprimanding the three captains, and the other alleging failure to provide accurate and timely information to a sergeant regarding the continuation of the Youth Services Program.

Bryan, who has served in the police department for over 27 years and was appointed chief by then-Mayor Jun Choi in 2009, has been suspended since March 22. At that time, Gonzalez notified him of the six charges and the decision to suspend the chief for two weeks without pay. Three days later, township officials changed the suspension to with pay. His annual salary is $180,000.

Deputy Police Chief Carmelo Vaticano has assumed the chief’s duties in Bryan’s absence.

Since his suspension, many came out in support for the chief. Members of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and the Middlesex County Association of Chiefs of Police have called the charges against the chief frivolous and his suspension unlawful. In April, the Township Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution to return Bryan to active duty.

Mayor Antonia Ricigliano said she has yet to review the hearing officer’s decision and the transcript of the hearing. She said she was to meet with Steven Mannion, the township’s labor attorney who represented the township during the administrative hearing, on May 19. She has 20 days to make a decision. By state statute, she has the option of following the recommendation, and could increase or decrease the penalty.