Controversy swirls around suspended officer’s return

By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent

EDISON — Fear was just one of the strong feelings residents voiced about Officer David Pedana’s slated return to the township’s Police Department.

“We are afraid,” resident Mahesh Swali told the Township Council at its July 20 meeting. “Why are you putting him back?”

The concern stems from racist text messages Pedana allegedly sent. While no details about the messages have been made public, the officer was suspended without pay for 95 workdays. He is slated to return to the force in the fall, when he will again receive his $112,000 annual salary.

Swali was one of a number of residents who spoke at the July 20 and July 22 council meetings about the issue. Others also had questions, but because the issue is considered a personnel matter, Township Attorney William Northgrave said he could not directly answer them.

“… Concerns you have, and the rest of the community have, are well understood and are being addressed,” Northgrave told Swali.

Public concerns ranged from potential public safety issues to negative public perceptions about Edison, and most residents who spoke on the issue were in favor of terminating Pedana.

“When there’s racial discriminatory toleration, it’s kind of embarrassing,” said Umang Swali, who also expressed concerns about the implications of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office recently notifying the township that Pedana would not be considered a credible witness in criminal hearings.

“It is a disgrace,” Peter Kothari, an Edison business owner, said of the issue.

Kothari said he wished the public had more information regarding the nature of the text messages and to whom they were sent.

Not all residents said Pedana should be automatically removed from his position, however.

“He should be judged on the job that he does, on the job that he’s done,” James Daniel said. “What he thinks, what he says to his family is personal business. He should just be judged on his job.”

Resident Richard Lord also said Pedana should not be judged so harshly.

“We have to be human and we have to be forgiving,” said Richard Lord. “This is what we are as a country. Four hundred years of racism, and we’re surprised that someone’s making a racist comment.”

At the July 20 meeting, Councilman Sudhanshu Prasad asked Deputy Chief Mark Anderko about the Police Department’s hypothetical options in the matter. Anderko said he could not comment on hypotheticals or the case at hand, but could address what the department plans to do going forward.

That includes a ramped-up version of the department’s annual cultural diversity training, he said. Anderko added that the department would be returning to bias-based policing, which he said would proactively remove potential for bias in police-public interactions.

Anderko said an important message is getting lost amid the discussion.

“From the prosecutor’s office to the attorney general’s office, the men and women of the Edison Police Department are doing their job. Crime rate is going down. They are serving the public as best as they can, and the challenges that come out of this when we say that we’re afraid of our police, there is no merit to it at this point in time,” he said, adding, “This Police Department is moving forward.”

After the two public comment sessions on the matter, the council took action in the form of the unanimous approval of the formation of a Committee of the Whole of the Township Council at the July 22 meeting.

The creation of this investigative committee gives the council the authority to look further into the issue.

“That gives us broad powers and a lot of flexibility,” Council President Robert Diehl said.

Officials, particularly Councilman Robert Karabinchak, stressed that the formation of the committee did not guarantee that any action would be taken, or even that information that is learned could be shared publicly.

The council has no authority to remove Pedana from his position.

Even the formation of the committee, was met with some opposition.

“I think you’re overreaching,” said resident Fred Wolke, who said that the move “smells of McCarthy-ism.”

Resident Sam Joshi said he felt that the township was setting itself up for a lawsuit with the move.

“I don’t think that this resolution at all is effective. I think it’s going to cause a show,” he said.