P.D. nominee hopes to build strong consensus BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer EDISON - A point Brian Collier, nominee for the director of the Edison Police Department, really wants to drive home is that he is a Jersey boy at heart and a Jersey cop in particular. His demeanor and speech certainly reflect this, his mannerisms calling to mind someone who, despite having lived all over the country and across the world, has carried New Jersey, particularly North Jersey, with him his entire life. It could be inferred that this point is so important for him to get across because he is well aware of the controversy surrounding the position he hopes he will occupy, should the Township Council approve its creation. He tries hard to dispel the image that he is an outsider, that his position threatens the independence of the police department, that he's just another fed. "I'm a Jersey cop and, you know, I may be a civilian or I may be a fed, but you can't take the Jersey cop out of my heart and my soul, and if [the Edison police] give me half a break, they're going to see that, and with me, what you see is what you get," said Collier. If the position of police director is created, Brian Collier, a longtime agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with 29 years of law enforcement experience under his belt, will be the one to occupy it. The police director will run the department and be responsible for setting policy, which will be executed by the deputy chief. Collier's nomination comes in the wake of former Edison Police Chief George Mieczkowski's retirement about a month ago. During a press conference on Jan. 9, Edison Mayor Jun Choi announced that he will not be refilling the chief position but rather will propose the creation of the police director position in the interest of restoring accountability and introducing reforms in the department. This proposal did not sit well with the Edison PBA, the union that represents the cops in the township. In a statement, the union noted that it had no problem with Collier himself, but distrusted the creation of the police director position because its members felt it would damage the independence of the department. Collier acknowledged these concerns but also tried to set the union members at ease, saying he is not looking to upend the department. "I'd like to emphasize that I am extremely grateful to the PBA for having mistrust for the position and not for the person. I'm proud of them. I barely know them, and I'm proud of them for taking such a professional stance … you might look at me as a chiropractic cop, I'm here for what I consider a minor adjustment, and this body of blue that serves Edison will be in rare form very quickly and some of it is structural and some of it is how can we do things better, but some of it obviously involves personalities, and I hope to overcome that," said Collier. Collier is not as concerned about the police department's independence from the administration as the union has expressed. "I really feel [the mayor's] not looking to meddle, he's looking to manage, and I think he's going to leave that to me and the very capable core of commanding officers that are already in the police department. I think this could be a win-win for, I hope, the Edison police department and the people of Edison," said Collier. A life of law enforcement While Collier, as a child, had lived all over the country, from New York to California to Michigan to Alabama, he considers Hillsdale in Bergen County, his hometown. The son of an FBI agent, he eventually went to Rider University where he got a degree in economics and played for that school's wrestling team. This fact comes out in his crushing handshake and a build that can best be described as compact. Upon graduation, after a brief stint at Johnson & Johnson, he joined the police academy, coming out at the top of his class, and joined the Hillsdale Police Department, where he stayed for five years and developed what he said was a "niche in narcotics," before moving on to the DEA. He said that he considered the move a lateral one, rather than an advancement. His work with the DEA took him from Rome, Italy, working in the foreign intelligence community there, back to New Jersey, leading the Mobile Enforcement Team, a dedicated squad of federal agents sent to address drug violence in the worst American cities. "The reason they picked me was I was the only federal agent at that time who had been a police officer … they knew I worked well with police and I really enjoyed working with the cops," said Collier, who went on to say that during that time, they managed to do "some damage" to the drug infrastructure there. He led this team for three years before being sent to Virginia to train at the FBI Academy before a transfer to coordinate Mexican/Central American drug-trafficking investigations in the DEA headquarters across from the Pentagon. This was where he was on Sept. 11, 2001, when he saw the attack on the Pentagon. "I was on the 10th floor of my building looking out, the news station was on and I was watching the towers in New York burn on the TV screen, and beyond the TV screen was my window, and as I watched the tragedy in New York, VOOM! Right past my window went a silver streak," said Collier. "… It's kind of funny, you know, the Jersey State Police trained me pretty well, and I was a Jersey cop, and although I was, quote, a fed, I never lost my roots, and the Jersey cop, along with another Jersey cop who had joined the feds with me, sprung into action, dashed down the stairs, rocketed over to the Pentagon," where they provided support. Due to his experience working with the Mexican/Central American operations, he was eventually sent to San Diego, which he said was the most beautiful city in the world, where he worked against drug trafficking. He called it a "target rich environment" but said that he wanted to return to New Jersey to be near his family. So, after two years, he was transferred to be the commander of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force in 2004, where he still sits. "Which, again, is Brian the Jersey cop as a fed working with state and local cops from around northern New Jersey, and it's my privilege to have learned a heck of a lot from those officers and to have been given back as much as they have given me," said Collier. Minor adjustments "This is my opinion of police work: if you're a cop, and most days it's not fun to come to work, somebody's doing something wrong, maybe it's the administration, maybe it's you, maybe it's the union, maybe it's a combination of all three, but I'm going to fix it, whatever it is, because if you're happy coming in to whatever job it is, you're going to do a better job and you'll do a better job for the people, so you'll be twice as happy," said Collier. Collier, if approved, wants his tenure to be marked with a vast increase in community policing that will help improve relations between the police department and members of the public, especially the local immigrant community, saying "every cop a community cop." As for his particular style of management, Collier said that he is not one to barrel through a decision - he says that first and foremost, he is a coalition builder and wants to have consensus on decisions. "I am pretty much a coalition-building, consensus-creating cop, and that would be my style. If there happens to be an intransigent, just because you disagree with me doesn't make you wrong, and I can listen and that's what I plan on doing. There are some people here who know a heck of a lot more about Edison than I do, and their counsel would be very valuable," said Collier. This self-reflection echoes words that others who have worked with him in the past have said about his management style as well. "There's probably not anyone in the state that wants to build more coalitions than Brian. He can bring people together and does it all the time. That's one of his fortes," said Michael Pasterchick, currently with the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, but who had worked closely with Collier in the DEA before. He described Collier as "one of the finest, if not the finest, agents I've ever worked with." Vincent Sarubbi, former Camden County prosecutor who worked with Collier on several drug cases in the area, agreed with the assessment. "When Brian was in charge, you could be assured the case would be done correctly and he understood the seriousness and significance of them," said Sarubbi. In the end, Collier feels the police department could use some new blood for a new perspective on things that could, in the end, result in a great improvement. "Sometimes I would guess that new blood and new life and new leadership could help some police departments. … I do bring new life, I do bring new blood, I do bring a great deal of new experience, locally and federally and managerially," said Collier.