Crime & Safety

Report: Officers, Civilians, Attorneys Secretly Recorded in Edison Police Headquarters

Surveillance cameras installed by a Manalapan company in January may have recorded conversations for as much as 11 months.

Private conversations between police officers, attorneys, civilians, crime victims and representatives of other law enforcement agencies have been secretly recorded at the Edison Police Department headquarters, nj.com reports.

This would include conversations that would legally be protected by attorney-client privilege, according to the report.

According to the report, surveillance cameras capable of recording audio were installed throughout the police headquarters in January. Police Chief Thomas Bryan previously promised the mayor and the business administrator in the city that microphones on the cameras would be disabled to prevent invasions of privacy.

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However, officers discovered audio playback on multiple surveillance cameras last week, leading to calls for state and federal investigations, according to the report.

The recordings may go back as far as 11 months, according to the report.

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Superior Officers Association attorney James Mets told nj.com the audio may violate state and federal wiretapping laws. In New Jersey, conversations may not be recorded unless all parties aware of it.

Mets calls for an investigation conducted by multiple agencies instead of Bryan, who may be at fault, according to the report.

Bryan claims that he was unaware conversations were being recorded until last week, according to the report. He said Safe Life Security, out of Manalapan, installed the system and took responsibility for the error, according to the report.


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