A Local Artist Says He Designed a Police Department’s Badge Decades Ago and Never Got Paid
Edward Harper Jr. claims he created the emblem used by the South Bound Brook Police Department on officers' uniforms, patrol cars, and even PBA coins since 2004. The borough has no record of ever paying for it.
Screenshots of various uses of the South Bound Brook Police Department badge design with the sketch Ed Harper Jr. says he made in the middle. Clockwise from top-left: A South Bound Brook PBA challenge coin, the cover image on a recent South Bound Brook Police Department video on YouTube, the badge design can be seen on the sleeves as the police chief speaks, and the badge design seen on the South Bound Brook Police Department Facebook page. (Illustration created by Chris Howell, The Central Jerseyan.)
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Chris Howell | May 25, 2026
Edward Harper Jr. says he still has the drawings.
The two pencil sketches show the same image, one in black and white and one with color filled in by hand. They include a colonial house, a bald eagle in flight, an American flag, and a lone rider on horseback along a canal. Both drawings are signed “E. 04.”
Harper says he made them in 2004 at the request of a South Bound Brook police officer. In exchange, he says, he was promised a letter of recommendation from the Chief of Police. However, he never got the letter. And for more than 21 years, the department has used his design on uniforms, patrol cars, its website, social media, and at least one commemorative coin without permission or payment.
“They stole it from me,” Harper said. “They’ve been paying all these other people for my artwork, but they stole it from me and never paid me a dime.”
Now, with a New York law firm behind him and a $750,000 demand on the table, he says he is done waiting.
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According to a formal demand letter sent to the borough in December 2025 by Harper’s attorney, Jack Fattal of Fattal Legal PLLC, South Bound Brook Police Officer Vincent Pelino approached Harper in March 2004, while on duty and in uniform, and asked him to design a new patch for the department. The letter states that the police chief at the time, Robert Verry, approved the arrangement.
Harper agreed, delivered the design, and the department adopted it as its official patch.
Then he waited.
Harper says that in October 2004, the arrangement fell apart when Pelino suddenly told him that the artist was not responsible for the logo’s creation and allegedly warned him to stop saying so. The run-in left Harper afraid of retaliation, he says.
Undeterred, he brought his complaint to the borough council the next month. Official meeting minutes obtained by The Central Jerseyan confirm he was there. According to Harper, he told council members that if he was not going to receive a letter of recommendation, then he wanted to be paid for his work instead.
A selfie taken by Edward Harper Jr. at the groundbreaking of the new South Bound Brook Police Department Headquarters.
The demand letter claims the borough attorney at the time warned the council of legal risk. Harper says the borough told him to take the matter to court, but he could not afford the legal fees to fight.
Soon after, Harper says he began being pulled over and ticketed frequently until he finally felt he had no choice but to move out of the borough.
In the years that followed, Harper settled down in Rahway, and the design became a fixture in South Bound Brook.
It appears on the department’s official website. It is the profile photo on the department’s Facebook page, which has more than 2,700 followers. It appears in a YouTube video of a police swearing-in ceremony, visible on the sleeves of the current chief’s uniform.
In September 2023, the South Bound Brook PBA posted an image of a “2023-24 SBBPD Challenge Coin” on Instagram with the patch design on its face.
Despite the department using the emblem for more than 20 years, officials said they could not find any paperwork showing where it came from or what was paid for it. Borough Clerk Christina Fischer certified in response that the borough has no records reflecting the origin or procurement of the patch design. There are apparently no contracts, purchase orders, or invoices of any kind.
Fischer also certified that the borough has no records of any written response to Fattal’s December 2025 demand letter.
Fattal says he tried calling the mayor’s office after sending the demand.
“They pretended,” he said. “They just ignored it.”
The South Bound Brook Police Department, Borough Attorney Jeremy Solomon, Corporal Vincent Pelino, and former Chief Robert Verry did not respond to requests for comment.
Fattal’s demand letter lists five legal claims: copyright infringement, willful infringement, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and potential civil rights violations because a uniformed officer made the original request.
Harper’s attorney acknowledged the design was never copyrighted, but he added that under federal law, copyright protection is automatic the moment a work is created. Registration is not required.
Still, having a copyright matters for what a creator can recover. Without registration, a copyright holder is generally limited to actual damages — roughly what the work would have sold for — rather than statutory damages, which can reach $150,000 per infringement for willful violations.
Harper’s case also faces a potential time barrier. Federal copyright law has a three-year statute of limitations. The infringement began in 2004. However, Fattal’s letter argues that each new use of the design is a separate infringement with its own three-year window.
Fattal said the firm plans to file a lawsuit if the borough does not respond meaningfully.
In a video recorded outside the South Bound Brook Police Department, Harper stands in front of a sign bearing the design and speaks directly to the camera.
“I created that logo, and they haven’t paid me for it ever,” he said. “Instead of paying me for that logo, they harassed me. They ran me out of the township. But now I’m back, seeking my justice.”
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.