Department Failed to Properly Address Harassment of Black Residents in Violation of New Jersey Law Against Discrimination

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) today announced that DCR has issued a Finding of Probable Cause against the Police Department of Mount Laurel, New Jersey (MLPD), for allegedly violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by denying bias-incident response services to residents of color who were enduring repeated race-based harassment.

Two complainants, both of whom are Black and were residents of the Essex Place Condominium Complex (Essex Place) in Mount Laurel, filed verified complaints with DCR alleging that MLPD discriminated against them based on race. According to the complaints, MLPD received dozens of calls reporting that an Essex Place resident, Edward Cagney Mathews, was engaging in repeated, severe, and pervasive race-based harassment toward other Essex Place residents. The complainants alleged that MLPD failed to adequately investigate these complaints, as MLPD knew or should have known about Mathews’s long-running pattern of harassing behavior towards Black residents of Essex Place and had evidence that the harassment was based on race many months before Mathews was ultimately arrested and charged in July 2021.

In the Finding of Probable Cause announced today, DCR concluded that the evidence supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that MLPD denied Black residents of Essex Place critical bias-incident response services based on race and that MLPD therefore violated the LAD, which prohibits discrimination based on race and other protected characteristics.

“Bias incidents targeting residents based on race tear at the very fabric of our communities. They create fear, undermine public safety, and inflict lasting harm on our residents. That’s why our department and law enforcement agencies throughout the state have made it a priority to ensure that officers respond swiftly to reported bias incidents whenever they occur,” said Attorney General Platkin. “It is deeply concerning to me that the Mount Laurel Police Department allegedly failed to recognize or respond appropriately to dozens of incidents of race-based harassment. Law enforcement agencies must protect our state’s residents from race-based harassment, and I am committed to ensuring that all of our state’s law enforcement agencies discharge their responsibility to investigate and respond promptly to reported bias incidents.”

“Despite their avowed commitment to ‘protect and serve’ residents in their time of need, the Mount Laurel Police Department failed to respond adequately when the Township’s residents of color repeatedly reached out for help in the midst of a long-running pattern of race-based harassment,” said Yolanda N. Melville, Director of the Division on Civil Rights. “Taking corrective action begins with identifying breakdowns in conduct. Today’s finding of probable cause offers a blueprint for the Mount Laurel Police Department to begin that journey.”

As the Finding of Probable Cause explains, before the July 2021 arrest, MLPD received approximately 40 reports from Essex Place residents of color regarding incidents involving Mathews’s conduct. In these reports, Essex Place residents of color alleged that Mathews targeted them with repeated verbal and written harassment including racial slurs. They also alleged that Mathews vandalized their homes and their vehicles, smashing car and home windows and slashing tires. Mathews’s behavior caused some Essex Place residents of color to move out of their condos to escape his harassment.

On July 2, 2021, multiple Essex Place residents called MLPD and alleged that Mathews was causing a public disturbance and had confronted several residents using profane and racist language. The incident was captured on video by security cameras and bystanders’ cell phones. Later that evening, Mathews was charged with bias intimidation and harassment but the municipal court precluded his immediate arrest. Over the next couple of days, Mathews’s behavior escalated as he continued to engage in race-based harassing conduct toward Essex Place residents of color. During that time, a video of the July 2 incident went viral, inspiring protests.

On July 5, 2021, MLPD officers ultimately arrested Mathews amid a large protest charging him with twenty-two offenses, spanning six separate incidents of harassment, vandalism, and bias crimes against his Essex Place neighbors. In October 2023, Mathews pleaded guilty to four counts of bias intimidation. In December 2023, Mathews was ultimately sentenced to eight years in prison.

As part of its investigation, DCR interviewed numerous MLPD officers, including a retired police chief, both complainants, as well as the Essex Place HOA attorney. DCR also reviewed internal MLPD communications regarding Mathews, which reflect that MLPD police officers were aware of Mathews’s pattern of harassment prior to July 2021.

However, none of the officers DCR interviewed indicated that they had interviewed Mathews in connection with any of the incidents that allegedly involved Mathews prior to July 2021, with some officers stating that they did not do so because they did not want to anger or incite Mathews. DCR’s review of documents indicated that on multiple occasions MLPD officers appeared to respond to complaints involving Mathews without following MLPD’s protocols requiring a thorough investigation and documentation of these incidents in writing. Further, the investigation revealed that several MLPD officers did not believe that race was a factor in Mathews’s harassing conduct even though a number of Black residents raised repeated concerns that Mathews’s conduct was based at least in part on race.

DCR’s investigation found that MLPD’s failure to provide critical bias-incident response services prior to July 2021 allowed Mathews’s conduct to escalate over the course of several years, and particularly over the 14 months before his arrest. In the Finding of Probable Cause announced today, DCR found that the evidence supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that MLPD’s conduct had the effect of denying critical services to Essex Place’s Black residents based on race, and that MLPD therefore violated the LAD.

The Finding of Probable Cause announced today does not represent a final adjudication on the merits of a case. Instead, it means DCR has concluded its preliminary investigation and determined there is sufficient evidence to support a reasonable suspicion the LAD has been violated. Once DCR issues a Finding of Probable Cause, the case will go to conciliation, where the parties will have the opportunity to negotiate a voluntary resolution. If no voluntary resolution is reached, DCR will appoint a Deputy Attorney General to prosecute the case either in the Office of Administrative Law or in court.

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The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights enforces the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, and the Fair Chance in Housing Act, and works to prevent, eliminate, and remedy discrimination and bias-based harassment in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation throughout New Jersey.

To find out more information or to file a complaint, go to www.njcivilrights.gov