Three Charged In Connection With Anti-Police Graffiti In Hazlet

HAZLET, NJ - Three individuals from Hazlet and Middletown were charged in connection with profanity-laced, anti-police graffiti in Hazlet sprayed over the summer, authorities said Thursday.

Multiple reports of graffiti in the Hazlet neighborhood of Parkview Drive, Linda Place, Rutgers Street, Princeton Place and North Stevens Place were noted by the Hazlet Township Police Department in August, according to a statement from the department.

A subsequent investigation launched by the department’s detective division found that three male suspects sprayed profane anti-police rhetoric above the roadways during the early morning hours of Aug. 31.

Alex Rollin, 19, of Hazlet, Joshua Bowen, 20, of Hazlet and Charles Traina, 20, of Middletown, were later charged with criminal mischief.

Related: Middletown Man Charged With Leaving Anti-Police Graffiti

Similar graffiti in Middletown began appearing on Aug. 24, sprayed over the street, sidewalks and on several utility boxes on Howland Road, Lyon Road and other streets in Oak Hill.

The Middletown graffiti read BLM and ACAB, which stands for Black Lives Matter and All Cops Are Bad or All Cops Are Bastards. Tags were also left reading "Smash Racism," F*** ICE and "Bootlicker." Other graffiti showed the anarchy symbol and FTP, which stands for "F*** the police;" the second tag read "We See U, Pigs" with a picture of an eye.

“We’d like to thank our community, and specifically the residents in the affected areas, for their support and assistance in this investigation,” the Hazlet police department said in a statement on Thursday.

“We’d also like to thank the Middletown Township Police Department for working jointly on this investigation as well.”