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Edison police officer Michael Dotro faces five counts of attempted murder for allegedly setting his captain's house on fire.

(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)

Capt. Mark Anderko

The Edison police officer charged this month with torching his captain’s home was recently ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and transferred to a new shift after receiving his 11th excessive force complaint in a decade, three law enforcement officials with knowledge of the situation said.

Michael Dotro, 35, who has a history of confrontations on and off the job, was summoned to a meeting in late March with Chief Thomas Bryan and Capt. Mark Anderko, who has a role in meting out discipline as commander of the department’s administration bureau.

Dotro was told during the meeting he would be required to submit to a fitness-for-duty evaluation with the department’s psychologist and would be moved from midnights to a day shift, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Dotro ultimately saw the psychologist and was cleared to return to duty.

Two months after that initial meeting, Anderko’s Monroe Township home was set ablaze with an accelerant before sunrise May 20 as he, his wife, his two young children and his 92-year-old mother slept inside. All escaped unharmed, though the house was heavily damaged.

The personnel actions involving Dotro provide the first hint of a motive in the arson attack, which has led to new calls for state oversight of the troubled department, the subject of a two-part series in The Star-Ledger in December.

The arson attack on the home of an Edison police captain, allegedly at the hands of a fellow officer, has renewed calls for state oversight of the department.

Dotro, a 10-year veteran, was charged with five counts of attempted murder May 23 after an hours-long search of his Manalapan home. He remains jailed on $5 million cash bail.

Acting Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey, whose office is leading the probe, declined to comment.

Bryan, now in his fifth year as chief, would not discuss the investigation or the actions against Dotro. In a statement, he said he will continue working toward "much-needed reforms" in the department, which has been riven by a vicious internal war and which has produced an inordinate number of officers who misbehave or break the law.

"Some have helped my (reform) efforts," Bryan said. "Others have resisted my efforts or worked with the wrong elements in my department. On behalf of the citizens of Edison, and the vast majority of the people in our fine department, I ask, in the face of this most recent outrageous act, can anyone doubt that these reforms are deserving of complete support?

"I hope not, as I intend to proceed with my reforms and hope to have the support of all concerned."

The chief said Dotro, who earns $118,000 annually, has been suspended without pay.

Dotro’s lawyer, Lawrence Bitterman, declined comment other than to say he will seek a bail reduction in the days ahead.

Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan, seen here in 2012.

The incident that led to the psychological evaluation and the officer’s transfer occurred March 22, when Dotro participated in the arrest of several juveniles for setting shopping carts on fire, the law enforcement officials said.

When one of the youths fled, Dotro gave chase and caught him. A day or two later, the officials said, the teen’s mother filed an excessive force complaint, citing marks on her son’s neck. An internal affairs inquiry into the arrest continues.

While several officers on the force told The Star-Ledger Dotro did nothing improper during the arrest, the complaint stoked growing concern among commanders about Dotro, who had 10 previous excessive force complaints — two of which resulted in lawsuits — and at least 16 complaints overall, according to the law enforcement officials.

Just months earlier, the married patrolman was accused of harassing a 25-year-old woman who works as a clerk in the department’s violations bureau. After the woman filed a complaint, her tires were slashed, two of the law enforcement officials said.

Dotro also was one of the prime suspects in the 2008 theft of a police car from the department’s parking lot.

Though the theft was believed to have been a prank, it triggered a homeland security alert and drew in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force because of post-9/11 concerns that police vehicles could be used in terrorist attacks.

According to internal affairs correspondence obtained by The Star-Ledger last year, Dotro and two other officers initially agreed to take responsibility for the theft. They changed their minds when they were told they could not be guaranteed light punishment, the correspondence shows. The investigation remains open.

Assemblyman Peter Barnes III, seen here in February, contends the Attorney General's Office should take over the Edison Police Department's internal affairs unit.

The same year, Dotro had a fistfight with his 68-year-old neighbor after a dispute about a shed on the officer’s property.

The neighbor, Dennis Sassa, accused Dotro of sucker-punching him and pummeling him repeatedly when he fell to the ground. Dotro, who was 31 at the time, accused the older man of charging him with a brick. Both men were acquitted in municipal court.

Leading up to the fight, as Dotro and Sassa frequently argued, a shed on Sassa’s property was set on fire, with flames spreading to a camper and Sassa’s house. Though no one was charged, detectives investigating the arson at Anderko’s home questioned Sassa anew two weeks ago about the 2008 fire.

Now, with Dotro facing decades behind bars if convicted of the attempted murder counts, officers and lawmakers alike are questioning how he managed to remain on the force for so long given the number and pattern of complaints against him.

Assemblyman Peter Barnes III (D-Middlesex) said the attack on Anderko and his family highlights the need for state monitoring of Edison’s internal affairs unit.

"The way internal affairs complaints have been handled in Edison is part of the problem," Barnes said.

In response to The Star-Ledger series on Edison last year, Barnes and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen) sponsored a bill that would require the state Attorney General’s Office to take over all internal affairs functions of the department for two years.

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The bill passed the full Assembly in March by a vote of 46-24, with six abstentions.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) introduced a Senate version of the measure May 13, a week before Anderko's home was torched. The bill remains in the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee.

In January, the Attorney General’s Office stepped up oversight of Edison’s internal affairs unit in conjunction with the county prosecutor’s office, requiring written summaries of every investigation. In a statement, a spokesman for Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa suggested further action was unnecessary.

"Through the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, we have been monitoring the internal affairs function of the Edison Police Department on a case-by-case basis since the start of the year, and there have been strong, objective results indicating stability," said the spokesman, Peter Aseltine. "That monitoring will continue."

Referring to the attack on Anderko, Aseltine added, "This was an extreme and unprecedented act by one officer who is now charged with very serious crimes. This is not an issue of oversight."

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