Englishtown Colleague Remembers Slain Officer's 'Infectious Smile' and 'Great Personality'

When Sgt. Peter Cooke, officer in charge of the Englishtown Police Department, goes to work in the office, he admits it’s difficult to imagine that his former colleague, Lakewood Police Officer Christopher Matlosz, 27, won’t be coming by any longer.

Matlosz, an officer for Englishtown for nearly two years before he was hired by Lakewood, was killed when suspect, Jahmell Crockam, 19, shot him on three times on Friday, police said.

Police arrested Crockam at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Jan. 16, at Crestbury Apartments in Camden.

“He was a great guy,” Cooke said. “It’s still so hard to believe that he won’t be stopping back in the office when he comes back to town.”

Cooke said he remembers Matlosz as a man with “a great personality,”  “a great sense of humor,” and an “infectious smile.”

“You would see that smile and no matter what kind of mood you were in, no matter what kind of day it had been, you couldn’t help it, you’d smile,” Cooke said.

Cooke said the entire Englishtown Police Department, six full-time officers and two part-time officers, would be attending Matlosz funeral at noon Thursday at St. Mary of the Lake Church in Lakewood. Manalapan Police Department will take all calls for Englishtown during that time, Cooke said.

“We’ve lost a brother,” Cooke said. “Like any family, a sibling might leave the home and go to college, but they’re still family. It’s devastating. It has shaken everyone in our department. It’s very hard to understand how something like this can happen.”

Cooke said it was his personal opinion that New Jersey should have the death penalty in place for people like Crockham.

“People like that don’t deserve a life behind bars,” Cooke said. “They just don’t.”

Cooke said that his opinion on the death penalty, which was also reported in the Asbury Park Press, wasn’t simply because Crockham killed a police officer.

“If someone is willing to do that to a police officer, what danger does this person pose to the average citizen,” Cooke said.