An internal Bridgeton Police Department operations report dated May 2, 2024, documented the loss of approximately 62,000 body-worn camera and in-car video files, tracing the failure to a hard drive problem on the department's WatchGuard server. The report, filed at department headquarters on Fayette Street, ties the missing footage to a botched migration of old server data onto a new WatchGuard system that had gone online in July 2022.
According to the operations report, which was signed by Anthony Bertolini and reviewed by Lieutenant Jason M. Hovermann, numerous videos were flagged as faulted because of a suspected hard drive failure on the server following the migration. As reported by Shore News Network, the new WatchGuard server had been purchased in March 2022, and the lost videos could not be recovered once the migration was complete. The report also connects the missing footage to Bridgeton police case number 24-15396.
Bertolini provided the video evidence tied to the WatchGuard body-worn cameras and motor vehicle recording systems referenced in the report. Per the same account, the department reached out to both Motorola and Equus in an effort to recover the missing files. Motorola advised that it did not have legacy records from the earlier WatchGuard system, while Equus said all records would have resided with WatchGuard and that it could not assist. Recovery attempts through all three companies ultimately failed.
A Legal Trip Wire Under State Retention Rules
New Jersey's body-worn camera statute, N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5, requires law enforcement agencies to retain footage for a minimum of 180 days, and for at least three years when an incident involves an arrest, use of force, a citizen complaint, or a subject's request that the recording be preserved, according to Justia Law. The statute reflects New Jersey's 2021 statewide mandate requiring body cameras on uniformed officers.
State guidelines cited by the Sea Girt Police Department establish that when a department fails to meet those retention rules, courts can apply a rebuttable presumption that the missing footage contained exculpatory evidence — a presumption that could favor criminal defendants or support plaintiffs in civil misconduct lawsuits. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General's Directive 2021-5 separately makes unauthorized destruction or failure to preserve body camera footage subject to mandatory internal discipline, per the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
It remains unclear which specific years or cases fell within the 62,000 lost files, whether local prosecutors and public defenders were notified of the loss, whether any active criminal prosecutions or civil rights lawsuits have been affected, or whether Bridgeton faced any state administrative sanction as a result.
Not the First WatchGuard Server Failure Nationally
Bridgeton's server troubles echo a similar incident in Tennessee. In July 2022, the Metro Nashville Police Department disclosed losing body-worn and in-car camera footage from at least 183 arrests or citations and 543 other incidents due to server transfer errors involving WatchGuard systems, according to WPLN. That loss forced Nashville prosecutors to alert defense attorneys about the missing evidence.
WatchGuard itself was acquired by Motorola Solutions in July 2019 for roughly $271 million in cash and stock, folding the Texas-based mobile video vendor into Motorola's broader public safety video and evidence management business. Since then, some agencies nationally have shifted toward cloud-based storage systems, such as Motorola's Video as a Service, to reduce reliance on local hardware servers that remain vulnerable to physical hard drive crashes.
Leadership Change Came Around the Same Time
The May 2024 operations report landed during a period of leadership transition at the department. James Battavio was promoted to Chief of the Bridgeton Police Department on July 1, 2025, following the retirement of longtime Chief Mike Gaimari Sr. after more than 37 years of service; Battavio had previously served as Captain overseeing daily operations. The department employs 68 sworn officers out of headquarters at 330 Fayette Street, serving more than 27,000 residents in Cumberland County, where Bridgeton is the county seat.
New Jersey's public records landscape has also shifted in ways that could affect how such footage losses come to light. In May 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill S-2930 updating the state's Open Public Records Act, a measure civil rights advocates warned would restrict public access to government records, including police body camera footage, according to NJ Spotlight News. Separately, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in Fuster v. Township of Chatham in January 2025 that citizens involved in police encounters maintain a statutory right to extend body camera footage retention to three years and to obtain those records through public requests, clarifying that footage requested by subjects cannot be arbitrarily withheld.
