Former Hinesburg Police Chief Anthony Cambridge is under scrutiny by town and police officials for deleting police security footage and shredding documents in the days leading up to his departure, according to internal communications.
Cambridge announced in early January he would be resigning to become chief of the neighboring Richmond Police Department.
Over the last two years, he had been serving as the police chief for both Hinesburg and Richmond under an inter-municipal agreement between the two towns. Richmond paid Hinesburg an annual fee for contracted police and police chief services.
In the days and weeks following that announcement, town and police officials began discussing a number of concerns about Cambridge’s behavior, detailed in emails, letters and text messages obtained by VTDigger.
In an email exchange on Jan. 26, Frank Bryan, a Hinesburg police officer who has taken over as interim police chief, and Town Manager Todd Odit confirmed that Cambridge had deleted four days worth of security footage in the department headquarters on Jan. 22 — one day prior to his final day in the department.
A review of the system log, Odit wrote to Bryan, had revealed that Cambridge had changed the retention time on the camera system just after 11 p.m that day.
Bryan, in a Jan. 26 email to Odit, also said Cambridge “was shredding a lot of paper when he was cleaning out his office,” according to records.
Bryan declined to comment for this story.
Cambridge, in an emailed statement Monday, said he was “disturbed by the smear campaign taking place in Hinesburg,” and defended steps he’d taken in the leadup to his departure.
He said he’d shredded documents “because they contained personal information about members of our community,” and noted that he’d done so “in the middle of the common room with other officers present.”
Cambridge also said he “never intended to erase images” in the department’s video recording system. He “attempted to change the surveillance system to separate Hinesburg from Richmond cameras,” he said.
“It was also previously mentioned that the cameras might be capturing images in parts of the building, so I adjusted the retention time on the cameras to meet those concerns,” he added.
Cambridge was originally supposed to begin as Richmond’s chief on Feb. 18, but Richmond Town Manager Josh Arneson told VTDigger last week that Cambridge and the town “mutually agreed” to push the start date back a week.
In an email Monday, Arneson told VTDigger that Cambridge’s start date had again been moved back to March 4.
Arneson declined to elaborate on why, citing “personnel matters.” When asked about his start date, Cambridge said he and the town “just pushed it forward for now,” but declined to comment further.
Originally from New Jersey, Cambridge joined the Hinesburg police department in 2013 and became its chief in 2019.
In January, Cambridge announced he would take on the role of Richmond police chief — essentially switching the arrangement between the two towns. Hinesburg would then contract with Richmond for its police chief services.
Cambridge notified Odit of his resignation on Jan. 8, and said he would stay on until Feb. 17. But on Jan. 23, he emailed Odit to tell him he would be resigning that day.
“Please direct any further communication to my attorney Pietro Lynn,” he wrote to Odit.
In his statement, Cambridge said he “abruptly quit” his position “because I already had a position in Richmond starting in a few weeks, and I could not tolerate the consistent and sustained efforts to undermine me.”
After he gave his notice of resignation on Jan. 8, “officers started being contacted directly, false claims were made, and they were given substantial raises without my knowledge,” he said.
He said he tried to bring these concerns to the selectboard, but was told he could not contact the selectboard without the town manager or the assistant town manager’s approval.
“It is impossible to effectively run a police department when your efforts are being consistently undermined,” he said in the statement.
Inventory check
Cambride’s abrupt departure followed a flurry of concerned communication between Odit and police department employees.
On Jan. 14, Brett Flansbug, a former Hinesburg police officer who last week started in a new role with the Vergennes Police Department, requested a phone call with Odit.
The two met in person. Afterwards, Flansburg texted Odit that Cambridge found Flansburg “in the back parking lot and asked me why I was in your office for so long.”
“And this goes back to every time I talk about something with someone, he immediately knows or brings it up right after,” Flansburg texted Odit. “Just odd.”
Odit and Flansburg continued their correspondence over several days prior to Cambridge’s departure, with Odit asking Flansburg not to “worry yourself about all of this.”
“I’m concerned about your wellbeing,” Odit wrote to Flansburg over text. “Progress is happening. It will be slow but please hang on. You are appreciated.”
Flansburg declined to comment when reached by VTDigger.
In the days leading up to Cambridge’s departure, Odit notified Cambridge that he was cancelling the police department’s credit card. He also started inquiring with Flansburg about the department’s weapons inventory, asking him to take stock of all firearms.
Flansburg on Jan. 22 wrote that Cambridge had started returning firearms parts and accessories to the department headquarters. “It came right after I discussed the legality/ethical standpoint of a chief having/keeping the parts at his residence,” Flansburg wrote.
Cambridge, in a statement, said he was the department’s “armorer” and sometimes kept firearms at his residence to repair “because that is where my tools were located,” and added that, “When I returned the firearms after resigning from Hinesburg PD, I had one Hinesburg handgun at my home. That is it.”
Flansburg continued to text Odit about his privacy concerns, remarking that Cambridge “always seems to know about things and it’s blatantly obvious.”
“I’ve felt like I was crazy for the past 6 months,” Flansburg wrote to Odit. “He would immediately call/discuss things with me after someone brought something to my attention in my office. But he wasn’t privy to the conversation.”
Odit replied that he was “having the town hall WiFi checked to see if there are any cameras, etc. connected.”
In an interview Odit said Cambridge had informed him that he was installing Amazon and Ring devices in the police department after Cambridge told him the building’s security system was not working. Those devices were linked to the chief’s personal phone, Odit said. The building’s system was later replaced, according to Odit.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly, officials have recently removed 17 devices from the police department building. These included sensors in the processing room, bathrooms, locker rooms, and garage door, the source said.
The town manager said in an interview that “there was a concern about listening devices, which is why we changed the password on the WiFi router,” but he said he didn’t know whether devices inside the department could record audio or video.
Cambridge in his statement said he has “never listened in on any conversations.” He said he had a Ring doorbell installed outside of the department. The department, he said, “needed a camera in the lobby, specifically because we had a drug take back box in there, and no surveillance on it.”
“Nobody ever suggested it was a problem,” he said.
Other officers called attention to changes in the police headquarters. On Jan. 26, three days after Cambridge’s departure, Bryan emailed Odit telling him they had discovered a hole in the ceiling of the department’s armory.
“Brett and I did an inventory of that room earlier in the week and neither of us noticed it at that time. We first noticed it on Friday,” Bryan wrote Odit. “I’m not sure if some sort of device is missing that needs to be there, or if some type of device had been installed and then removed. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. It is odd.”
Flansburg also texted Odit that he and police officer Andrew Thomas went through the ceiling tiles in their office “because there were new cords (or old that had been hidden) coming out of the outside of my office on Saturday.” (Andrew Thomas declined to comment when reached by phone.)
“Again, I could be way off but I just don’t see how he knows everything ahead of time,” Flansburg wrote.
“Agreed,” Odit replied.
The following day, Odit asked another officer “to unplug, disconnect, whatever, every single Ring and Amazon camera that he is aware of in that building.”
Cambridge announced he’d be leaving the department earlier than expected the following day, according to records.
In his statement, Cambridge said he passed a “two-month long” background check with Richmond, and his personnel file “does not contain any documents showing concerns about the above items.”
“No charges were ever brought against me. I was not disciplined. In fact, when I asked about the reasons for the undermining behaviors, no such allegations were ever made,” he said. “I believe that I was and am a highly effective Chief of Police.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Hinesburg police chief’s departure under scrutiny.