Bill Laforet the Mayor of the Mahwah Township in New Jersey, wrote to two council members in July that “It is worth noting an ordinance should be considered. 1) No Knock & No Solicitation. This has become a real issue in Lakewood, NJ and I think it is something both mayor and council should strongly consider.”
Township records show that the first Ordinance for Review on the July 24-26, 2017 agenda was “No Solicitation Ordinance and No Knock List.” This meeting happened on the backdrop of the Township ordering the Eiruv association days earlier to remove the newly-installed Eiruvin in Mahwah, and July 27th is when a Residents Only Ordinance at Mahwah parks was supposed to go into effect but it was put on hold by the Bergen County Prosecutor as enforcing the Ordinance can lead to profiling of Orthodox Jews from neighboring New York who visit the park.
Despite being the one to recommend the No Knock ordinance a mere two months ago and thus bringing it closer to a reality, Mr. Laforet made a stunning reversal last week while appearing via phone on the Chasing News show.
The mayor said “We have no history of any objections by residents about people banging on their doors. No reports to the Police Department so it is a very good question why we choose now to consider an ordinance like this.” The mayor then added “I just wanted to say ‘what are you thinking? Why would we even try to implement an ordinance that even has a smell of exclusionary.'”.