In 2023, Sergeant Matthew Sykes was demoted by the Avalon Borough Police Department. According to the record, Sykes, while off duty, exchanged text messages with another sergeant on their personal phones and referred to a third-party officer using a racial slur. After being notified of the investigation, Sykes sent a further message reading 'game on', which the other sergeant took to mean he could be retaliated against for filing the report. The sustained charges included harassment, standards of conduct, conduct toward a superior, and profane language.
1. Harassment 2. Standards of conduct 3. Conduct toward superior 4. Profane language
Separated while IA pending
No
Synopsis as reported by the agency
Sergeant Sykes engaged in a texting conversation with another sergeant with the department, while off duty, utilizing their personal phones, discussing both work and non-work related things. In the exchange, Sgt. Sykes referred to a third-party officer as a racial slur. Upon being notified of the investigation, Sgt. Sykes then sent another text message to the sergeant, ("game on") causing him to believe he could be retaliated against for filing the report. These acts violated police department standard operating procedure # 75 (harassment in the workplace) and rules and regulations, (1:6.1) standards of conduct (1:8.11) conduct toward a superior officer, (3:1.1 c ). indecent, profane, harsh language, and (3:1.1 x) conduct subversive the good order and discipline of the department.
Similar records
AnalysisComputed by this site from shared agency, year, charge category, and sanction outcome. Not a legal or factual equivalence.
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similar sanction outcome
Other officers at Avalon Borough Police Department
One other named officer with a reported major discipline record at this agency. Major discipline is final and post-appeal, as reported by the agency.
No confident pension match found. This site links a pension record to a named officer only when the name and the exact employing agency both match a New Jersey Treasury record. Where that bar is not met, nothing is shown rather than a guess. See methodology for how these matches are made and what is withheld.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Matthew Sykes's major discipline record?
In 2023, Sergeant Matthew Sykes was demoted by the Avalon Borough Police Department. According to the record, Sykes, while off duty, exchanged text messages with another sergeant on their personal phones and referred to a third-party officer using a racial slur. After being notified of the investigation, Sykes sent a further message reading 'game on', which the other sergeant took to mean he could be retaliated against for filing the report. The sustained charges included harassment, standards of conduct, conduct toward a superior, and profane language.
What is Matthew Sykes's major discipline record at Avalon Borough Police Department?
Matthew Sykes has one major discipline record at Avalon Borough Police Department in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2023. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
How large is Avalon Borough Police Department, the department Matthew Sykes worked for?
Avalon Borough Police Department reported 21 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Matthew Sykes individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1613. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8268. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩