https://youtu.be/lXKXSiUOK-U
The downtown offices of New Brunswick Today (NBT), the Hub City's independent, bilingual community newspaper were intruded upon by two New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) detectives shortly before 4 p.m. on December 20.
According to newspaper staff, after a 13-minute interaction with New Brunswick Today Editor Charlie Kratovil, the detectives left with a water meter that had been given to the newspaper by a confidential source, but only because they had a search warrant signed by Superior Court Judge Colleen M. Flynn.
A former NBWU employee reportedly told the paper that the meter in question was "proof that a crime has been committed," corroborating what we had heard from another source. The meter was featured in a segment on the December 16 episode of "The New Brunswick Today Show," a live news broadcast published on NBT's Facebook page.
According to NBPD Captain JT Miller, someone at the Water Utility saw that broadcast and sparked a police investigation by reporting the meter "missing." It is unclear if police are also investigating the allegations of corruption contained in the broadcast.
The execution of the warrant was captured in a video where detectives made it clear they considered the water meter to be "stolen property." Because of the seizure, NBT was unable to have an independent company test the meter to determine whether it was working properly, or if it had been damaged or tampered with. It's not clear what the future holds for the device, or if there is a possibility that it will ever be returned to the newspaper.
Judge Flynn denied the NBPD's request to seize a video camera, but she did allow for officers "to search for and seize a memory card or other medium on which the video described in the affidavit is saved." The affidavit has not yet been provided, and the detectives were told no memory card exists because the broadcast was live-streamed.
"The execution of this questionable warrant is a very serious concern, and not only because the item taken had the potential to support or prove allegations of corruption in the Water Utility's Billing and Meter Reading Division," said Sean Monahan, the co-founder and publisher of New Brunswick Today. "Even more alarming was the revelation that police were originally hoping to also seize our video camera, simply because it had been used in the production of a news broadcast featuring the water meter."
Yesterday morning, Kratovil made arrangements with NBPD Captain JT Miller to meet with an investigator on Thursday, December 22 in City Hall, and was advised to bring the meter to the meeting.
But just a few hours later, Miller called back to request the meter be handed over immediately, without mentioning that the NBPD had already obtained a search warrant for NBT's offices at 53 Paterson Street.
"It is critical that we stick together, as journalists and as a community, to ensure that each other's rights are not violated," said Kratovil. "It is apparent that the NBPD and the Middlesex County Superior Court have once again over-reached beyond their legal authority in an Unconstitutional manner."
NBT encourages supporters to attend tonight's New Brunswick City Council meeting and speak up in favor of investigating the actual elements of corruption instead of investigating journalists who expose the truth about our city.
Tonight's City Council meeting will be held at 6:30pm on the top floor of City Hall, located at 78 Bayard Street in New Brunswick. Free parking is available behind the building.