EDWARDSVILLE • An Edwardsville police officer is accused of doing double duty as a serial burglar.
Authorities announced Friday that Officer Brian Barker, 41, had been charged with a dozen counts of burglary, one count of residential burglary, and aggravated unlawful possession of stolen firearms.
The arrest is the latest in a string of problems for the Edwardsville Police Department, which saw its own police chief, James Bedell, indicted and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in 2013 for embezzling $140,000 from the city.
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Barker’s alleged burglary spree became exposed on Sunday after he was identified through security equipment at the Reality Salon and Spa in Edwardsville. Barker, in uniform and on duty, was suspected of stealing $450 from the cash register there.
“It’s disheartening filing charges against a law enforcement officer,” said Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Gibbons. “Their sworn duty is to protect and serve our communities. However, when they violate that trust, it is up to my office to ensure that they are held accountable for their actions. No person is above the law. The citizens of Madison County must have confidence in their justice system, so it is imperative that we ensure equal justice under the law.”
The salon’s owner called the police after a security system was triggered. Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven said he turned the investigation over to the Madison County Sheriff’s Department when Barker became a suspect.
That investigation led authorities to charge Barker for the burglaries of a string of other Edwardsville businesses from 2012 to 2014: Edison’s Entertainment; Extreme Vapor; Knapp, Ohl & Green; The Little Gym; Edible Arrangements; Headstrong Hair; Afsaneh’s Alterations; and three other buildings.
The majority of the burglaries have been since March 2014.
Barker was also charged with burglary of a house on Heritage Trail in Moro. That residential burglary happened on May 19, 2012.
Barker has been suspended without pay pending a formal disciplinary procedure, according to Keeven.
“We are surprised by this,” Keeven said. “We did not suspect it. It is disappointing that one bad apple can hurt all of the great work done by the men and women in uniform.”
But Edwardsville police haven’t been strangers to being on the other end of the handcuffs.
Keeven took over the department in 2013 after the former chief, Bedell, resigned during the federal inquiry. In 2012, Officer Michael Collins was accused of secretly recording women at a tanning salon in Glen Carbon.
Barker spent 19 years on the Edwardsville police force. He currently works as a patrol officer. Officials said he had responded to some of the burglary calls.
Barker was also charged with having a stash of six stolen firearms, most of them handguns.
On Friday, Edwardsville Mayor Hal Patton called Barker’s actions “despicable.”
Patton pledged changes within the department. He said the city was conducting an internal review to see if communication between officers and administrators could be improved.
“This internal ‘gut check,’ if you will, can only make the department stronger,” Patton said. “I will personally commit the elected and appointed officials of this city to do everything we can to restore the integrity of our operations that is so deserved by our residents.”
Barker was released on Thursday night from the Madison County Jail after posting 10 percent of $175,000 bail.
