Edison, NJ – The recent brawl involving an estimated 300 juveniles at Menlo Park Mall on Saturday, May 17th, has ignited a fierce debate about public safety and the efficacy of the newly established Edison Police Substation at the mall. In a social media post, Council candidate Anthony De Amorin is raising serious questions regarding the substation’s operational status and the police department’s preparedness, especially given that social media posts advertising the “Menlo Park Mall Linkup” had been circulating on TikTok and Instagram for at least 72 hours prior to the incident.
Established less than a year ago, the Menlo Park Substation was heralded as a proactive measure to address the significant volume of calls to the Edison Police Department regarding the mall. According to a Home News Tribune article from May 31st, 2024, “Mayor Sam Joshi and Police Chief Thomas Bryan held the grand opening for the new Menlo Park Substation, located at the former Jos. A. Bank on the mall’s lower level between the parking deck and the Barnes & Noble.
Chief Bryan, at the time of the substation’s opening, emphasized its role in expediting law enforcement matters and keeping officers active on patrol, further assuring a command-level presence overseeing the substation. The substation, located in a retrofitted former Jos. A. Bank store on the mall’s lower level, even includes a holding area, and would be open during mall hours as well as some extended hours because the facility is not just for the mall, but that entire neighborhood area, said Mayor Joshi in May of 2024.
However, the events of Saturday, May 17th, paint a starkly different picture. The fact that a large-scale brawl, requiring mutual aid from nine surrounding towns, erupted on a Saturday—widely known as the busiest day at the mall—and the substation was apparently not manned, has left many in the community, including De Amorin, questioning the very purpose and utility of the facility.
“Everyone knows Saturday is the busiest day at the mall,” stated De Amorin. “To have a police substation specifically created to address issues at the mall, yet it appears to have been unmanned during such a critical incident, raises serious concerns about its true function and our community’s safety. Mayor Joshi is lying to the public, there is no substation at Menlo Park Mall that is open during mall hours.”
Compounding these concerns is the widespread knowledge of the “Menlo Park Mall Linkup” being promoted on social media platforms like tiktok and Instagram by users at least three days before the disturbance. This advance warning suggests that authorities could have been better prepared for a potential gathering and its ramifications. The need for mutual aid from nine surrounding towns to disperse the crowd further highlights a severe underestimation of the situation or a significant lapse in preventative measures.
Councilman Rich Brescher who is running for Mayor in the Democratic primary election sharply questioned the police department’s focus, stating, “One has to wonder: if the Edison police applied the same vigor to protecting our community as they do working on Mayor Joshi’s political campaign, would we have witnessed a 300-person brawl at the mall while the substation stood empty? How were they not aware and better prepared, it was all over social media.”
Former Councilwoman Joyce Ship-Freeman who is also running for Council didn’t hold back when addressing the mayor’s much-touted police substation at Menlo Park Mall. “The public deserves to know, does this substation truly exist as a functional police presence? What are its actual hours of operation, and more critically, can the general public, including those residents from our neighboring communities the mayor so often references, actually utilize it as promised? It feels like a façade, frankly. One has to question the truth behind many of these pronouncements.”
The incident has prompted calls for increased security measures from Mayor Joshi to mall ownership, including more surveillance cameras and additional security personnel. However, the immediate focus remains on the police substation. Was it truly open and actively staffed on May 17th? If not, why was a resource touted to “expedite law enforcement matters” not operational when it was most needed? And what proactive steps were taken, if any, in response to the widely circulated social media posts that foreshadowed the gathering?
As the community seeks answers and demands accountability, the Edison Police Substation at Menlo Park Mall stands at the center of a growing controversy, its effectiveness and the planning behind its operation under intense scrutiny.
Mayor Joshi and Chief of Staff Bob Diehl did not respond to requests for comment.
